Antibody Profile of Colostrum and the Effect of Processing in Human Milk Banks: Implications in Immunoregulatory Properties:

Background:When feeding preterm infants, donor milk is preferred if the mother’s own milk is unavailable. Pasteurization may have detrimental effects on bioactivity, but more information is needed about its effects on the immunological compounds.Research aim:This work has two main aims: evaluate the antibody profile of colostrum and study the quantitative variations in the antibodies’ level and specific reactivity after undergoing Holder pasteurization. The authors focused on immunoregulatory components of colostrum (antidietary antibodies and TGF-β2) in the neonatal gut.Methods:This is a descriptive cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of 67 donated colostrum samples at different days after delivery, both raw and pasteurized. Antibody profiles were analyzed at different times during breastfeeding, and total and specific antibodies (IgM, IgA, and IgG subclasses) were compared with tetanus toxoid and ovalbumin using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The processing effect on total and specific ant...