Concentrations of lactoferrin and iron in human milk at different stages of lactation
- PMID: 2097325
- DOI: 10.3177/jnsv.36.531
Concentrations of lactoferrin and iron in human milk at different stages of lactation
Abstract
Lactoferrin (LF) was isolated from human milk by serial procedures of 45% ammonium sulfate precipitation, CM Sephadex C-50 ion-exchange chromatography, Sephadex G-100 gel filtration, and Cu-affinity chromatography, in which 59Fe lactoferrin was used as the tracer. The recovery of LF from human milk was 3.3%. LF from human milk was a single component having a molecular weight of 78k on SDS-PAGE, and showed pI 8.02 by isoelectric focusing on slab gel. The LF concentration was measured by rocket immunoelectrophoretic assay using anti-human LF antiserum in human colostrum and milk, from 1 to 60 days after parturition (125 samples). The LF concentrations in colostrum (1-3 days of puerperium, n = 35), the transitional milk (4-7 days, n = 60), and mature milk (20-60 days, n = 30) were 6.7 +/- 0.7, 3.7 +/- 0.1, and 2.6 +/- 0.4 (mean +/- SEM) g/liter, respectively. Both the LF and total protein (TP) concentrations showed significantly inverse correlations with the days after parturition (p less than 0.001). The lactoferrin/total protein ratio (LF/TP) in the mature milk (16.1 +/- 1.4%) was significantly less than that in the colostrum (20.4 +/- 1.2%, p less than 0.05) and the transitional milk (21.4 +/- 0.9%, p less than 0.05). Furthermore, iron concentration (Fe) in human milk was also measured by the internal standard technique of the spiked method on atomic absorption, and the lactoferrin iron saturation (LS%) was calculated. Neither Fe nor LS% had significant difference among these three stages of the lactation. The means (n = 125) of Fe and LS% were 60.6 +/- 5.4 micrograms/100 ml and 11.8 +/- 1.1%, respectively. However, significant correlation was observed between LF and Fe (p less than 0.005) or between LF/TP and both of Fe (p less than 0.05) and TP (p less than 0.001) in the mature milk. These results suggest that the mechanism stimulating the synthesis and secretion of LF is different from those of other proteins and LF can play variable roles in iron nutrition of babies at the different stages of lactation.
Similar articles
-
Concentration of Lactoferrin in Human Milk and Its Variation during Lactation in Different Chinese Populations.Nutrients. 2018 Sep 5;10(9):1235. doi: 10.3390/nu10091235. Nutrients. 2018. PMID: 30189612 Free PMC article.
-
Lactoferrin Levels in Human Milk after Preterm and Term Delivery.Am J Perinatol. 2016 Sep;33(11):1085-9. doi: 10.1055/s-0036-1586105. Epub 2016 Sep 7. Am J Perinatol. 2016. PMID: 27603541
-
Lactoferrin concentration in breast milk of mothers of low-birth-weight newborns.J Perinatol. 2017 May;37(5):507-512. doi: 10.1038/jp.2016.265. Epub 2017 Jan 26. J Perinatol. 2017. PMID: 28125095 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.
-
Factors affecting lactoferrin concentration in human milk: how much do we know?Biochem Cell Biol. 2017 Feb;95(1):12-21. doi: 10.1139/bcb-2016-0060. Epub 2016 Aug 4. Biochem Cell Biol. 2017. PMID: 28075610 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Longitudinal changes in lactoferrin concentrations in human milk: a global systematic review.Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2014;54(12):1539-47. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2011.642422. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2014. PMID: 24580556 Review.
Cited by
-
Factors affecting total protein and lactoferrin in human milk.Sci Rep. 2023 Dec 17;13(1):22434. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-50124-1. Sci Rep. 2023. PMID: 38104179 Free PMC article.
-
Nutraceutical and Health-Promoting Potential of Lactoferrin, an Iron-Binding Protein in Human and Animal: Current Knowledge.Biol Trace Elem Res. 2024 Jan;202(1):56-72. doi: 10.1007/s12011-023-03658-4. Epub 2023 Apr 14. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2024. PMID: 37059920 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Human milk lactoferrin variation in relation to maternal inflammation and iron deficiency in northern Kenya.Am J Hum Biol. 2022 Dec;34(12):e23812. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.23812. Epub 2022 Oct 1. Am J Hum Biol. 2022. PMID: 36181360 Free PMC article.
-
New Insights into the Mammalian Egg Zona Pellucida.Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Mar 23;22(6):3276. doi: 10.3390/ijms22063276. Int J Mol Sci. 2021. PMID: 33806989 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Bovine Lactoferrin to Prevent Neonatal Infections in Low-Birth-Weight Newborns in Pakistan: Protocol for a Three-Arm Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR Res Protoc. 2021 Mar 11;10(3):e23994. doi: 10.2196/23994. JMIR Res Protoc. 2021. PMID: 33704071 Free PMC article.
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Other Literature Sources
Medical
Research Materials
Miscellaneous