Abstract
Background
The timing of milk donations to human milk banks ranges from a few days to more than 1 year after delivery, and the Holder method is used for pasteurization. We evaluated the effect of temporal variation and thermal treatment on the immunological properties of milk.
Methods
We analyzed 73 milk samples, raw and after pasteurization, donated at different lactation stages. We studied antibodies, lysozyme, cytokines, soluble receptors, and factors with impact on barrier function. We also evaluated in vitro the capacity of milk to modulate nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling in an HT-29 epithelial cell line stimulated with tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α).
Results
With few exceptions, immune components exhibited their highest levels in colostrum, and were stable in the various stages of mature milk. Pasteurization altered the immunological composition of milk, and very drastically for some components. Raw milk of the first year reduced NF-κB activation in HT-29 cells treated with TNF-α to approximately the same extent, and Holder pasteurization significantly affected this capacity.
Conclusions
Overall, the present work reports that mature donated milk is equally valuable over the first year of lactation, but warns about drastic losses of anti-inflammatory properties during Holder pasteurization that could be critical for the health of preterm infants.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the donors of milk samples, the technical staff of HMB for their invaluable collaboration, and Analía Rodríguez, PhD. (Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Facultad de Química, Uruguay) for determining the protein content of milk by the Kjeldahl method. We also thank Valerie Dee, Ph.D., for proofreading this manuscript. This work was supported by Consejo Sectorial de Investigación Científica—Universidad de la República (CSIC ID-255, to C.R.C); Comisión Académica de Posgrado—Universidad de la República (postgraduate scholarship, to C.R.C.); and Programa de Desarrollo de las Ciencias Básicas (PECECIBA; to A.H. and C.R.C.).
Author contributions
The author’s responsibilities were as follows: A.H., C.R.-C., and A.P. developed the study design; C.R.C. conducted most research activities; E.V., P.A., and C.S. contributed to technical assistance with cell assays, interpretations, and discussion of the data information. A.P., L.F., L.C., and M.C. contributed to samples and data collection at the HMB. A.H. and C.R.-C. wrote the first draft of the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Rodríguez-Camejo, C., Puyol, A., Fazio, L. et al. Impact of Holder pasteurization on immunological properties of human breast milk over the first year of lactation. Pediatr Res 87, 32–41 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-019-0500-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-019-0500-y
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