Characterising glycosaminoglycans in human breastmilk and their potential role in infant health
Authors:Melissa Greenwood1,2, Patricia Murciano-Martínez3, Janet Berrington4, Sabine L Flitsch5, Sean Austin2 and Christopher Stewart1
doi: 10.15698/mic2024.07.827
Volume 11, pp. 221 to 234, published 04/07/2024.
1 Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, NE2 4HH, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom. 2 Analytical Sciences Department, Société des Produits Nestlé, Nestlé Research, Vers-Chez-Les-Blanc, Lausanne, Switzerland. 3 Department of Nutrient Technology, Société des Produits Nestlé, Nestlé Research, Vers-Chez-Les-Blanc, Lausanne, Switzerland. 4 Newcastle Neonatal Service, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 4LP, United Kingdom. 5 School of Chemistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, 131 Princess Street Manchester, M1 7DN, United Kingdom.
Keywords:
breastmilk, glycosaminoglycan, chondroitin sulphate, heparin, heparan sulphate, microbiome.
Corresponding Author(s):
Conflict of interest statement:
CJS declares performing consultancy for Astarte Medical and receiving lecture honoraria from Nestle Nutrition Institute. He also supervises a BBSRC collaborative training partnership PhD student for which Nestlé are involved (no salary or other personal payment is provided by Nestlé). He has no share options or other conflicts. SA & PMM are employees of Socitee des Produits Nestlé S.A.
Please cite this article as:
Please cite this article as: Melissa Greenwood, Patricia Murciano-Martínez, Janet Berrington, Sabine L Flitsch, Sean Austin, Christopher Stewart (2024). Characterising glycosaminoglycans in human breastmilk and their potential role in infant health. Microbial Cell 11: 221-234. doi: 10.15698/mic2024.07.827
© 2024 Greenwood et al. This is an open-access article released under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which allows the unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are acknowledged.
Abstract:
Human breastmilk is composed of many well researched bioactive components crucial for infant nutrition and priming of the neonatal microbiome and immune system. Understanding these components gives us crucial insight to the health and wellbeing of infants. Research surrounding glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) previously focused on those produced endogenously; however, recent efforts have shifted to understanding GAGs in human breastmilk. The structural complexity of GAGs makes detection and analysis complicated therefore, research is time consuming and limited to highly specialised teams experienced in carbohydrate analysis. In breastmilk, GAGs are present in varying quantities in four forms; chondroitin sulphate, heparin/heparan sulphate, dermatan sulphate and hyaluronic acid, and are hypothesised to behave similar to other bioactive components with suspected roles in pathogen defense and proliferation of beneficial gut bacteria. Chondroitin sulphate and heparin, being the most abundant, are expected to have the most impact on infant health. Their decreasing concentration over lactation further indicates their role and potential importance during early life.