Abstract
Breast fed infants suffer less from gastrointestinal infections compared to artificially fed infants. We have studied the protective effect of fractions of milk from Ethiopian and Norwegian women against rotavirus and E. coli heat labile enterotoxin in vitro. Human milk was fractionated by ammonium sulphate precipitation (50%) and column chromatography (Ultrogel AcA 44). Rotavirus specific antibodies were detected by immunofluorescence in 15 out of 24 samples before fractionation and in 11 out of 13 of the concentrated immunoglobulin-rich fractions. Rotavirus infection of LLC-MK2 cells was inhibited by the concentrated immunoglobulin-enriched milk fractions, as well as by some immunoglobulin-depleted fractions, indicating that the milk may contain rotavirus neutralizing activity of non-immunoglobulin nature. No difference in the anti-rotavirus activity between Ethiopian and Norwegian milk samples was observed. The Norwegian and Ethiopian milk samples inhibited the E. coli heat labile enterotoxin when the toxin was tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Upon fractionation this inhibitory activity was not associated with the immunoglobulin-rich fractions, and gel filtration experiments indicated a molecular weight of more than 400 000.
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Halvorse, N., Osrstavi, K. THE EFFECT OF HUMAN MILK FRACTION ON ROTAVIRUS AND E. COLI HEAT LABILE ENTEROTOXIN. Pediatr Res 14, 1416 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198012000-00045
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198012000-00045
