Abstract
The objective of this study was to confirm physiological reactions in the breast and brain in mothers during breastfeeding and collect basic objective data, aiming at effective support for breastfeeding. Ten healthy women who were exclusively breastfeeding their babies participated in this study. Changes in the concentration of oxygenated Hb (oxyHb) and deoxygenated Hb in the breasts and frontal cortex of these women during breastfeeding lactation were measured using double-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Changes were measured in three conditions: (1) in both breasts; (2) the ipsilateral breast and frontal cortex; and (3) the contralateral breast and frontal cortex. OxyHb and total Hb (totalHb) levels in the bilateral breasts decreased significantly after the onset of breastfeeding in comparison with prebreastfeeding levels. These two values repeatedly increased and decreased thereafter. In the frontal cortex, regardless of which breast was involved, oxyHb and totalHb levels increased significantly in comparison with prebreastfeeding levels. Similar hemodynamic changes occurred simultaneously in the bilateral breasts during breastfeeding regardless of the feeding or nonfeeding side. Hemodynamic changes were also noted in the frontal cortex, but the reactions in the breast and prefrontal cortex were different and not synchronous, confirming that the physiological circulatory dynamics during breastfeeding vary among organs.
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Abbreviations
- deoxyHb :
-
deoxygenated hemoglobin
- NIRS :
-
near-infrared spectroscopy
- oxyHb :
-
oxygenated hemoglobin
- PDB :
-
point of the biggest difference in the breast
- PDF :
-
point of the biggest difference in the frontal cortex
- totalHb :
-
total hemoglobin
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the women and infants for their participation and cooperation in this study. We are also grateful to Hamamatsu Photonics for providing us with materials and Professor Dorothy Powell of Duke University for invaluable suggestions.
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Supported by the Prioritized Project of Kagawa University Faculty of Medicine, No.9, and grants-in-aid for scientific research (C) no. 20591299, 22591201, 22591202, and 22591203 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, Sanju Alumni Research Grant 21-1, and The Mother and Child Health Foundation, Japan.
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Tanimoto, K., Kusaka, T., Nishida, T. et al. Hemodynamic Changes in the Breast and Frontal Cortex of Mothers During Breastfeeding. Pediatr Res 70, 400–405 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e31822a363a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e31822a363a
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