The Impact of Gestational Length on Human Milk Selenium Concentration and Glutathione Peroxidase Activity

Jan 1, 1990Pediatric research

How Pregnancy Length Affects Selenium Levels and Antioxidant Activity in Breast Milk

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Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

Selenium (Se) levels in colostrum from mothers of preterm infants were significantly higher than in later stages of lactation.

Colostrum from mothers of preterm infants contained greater selenium levels compared to milk collected at days 21 and 42 of lactation.
Mothers of term and very preterm infants also produced colostrum with significantly higher selenium levels compared to milk from day 7 or later.
Changes in protein concentrations were observed in all maternal groups between early and late lactation, although overall protein content was similar across groups.
Mature milk from mothers of very preterm infants on day 21 had significantly higher glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity than that from mothers of term infants.
GSH-Px activity in milk from mothers of very preterm and preterm infants aligned with changes in long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid content during lactation.

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Longitudinal changes in selenium (Se) and protein concentrations and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity of milk collected from healthy mothers of term (n = 12), preterm (n = 10), and very preterm (n = 12) infants were assessed. All infants were size appropriate for gestational age. Milk samples representative of colostrum (d 3), transitional (d 7), and mature milk (d 21 and 42) were assayed. The content of Se in the colostrum secreted by mothers of preterm infants was significantly greater than the Se content of milk secreted by the same mothers at d 21 and 42 of lactation. Mothers of term and very preterm infants, however, produced colostrum with significantly higher levels of Se than milk produced at d 7 (p less than 0.05), d 21 (p less than 0.01), or d 42 (p less than 0.001). Significant differences between the protein concentrations measured in early lactation and in late lactation were evident in all maternal groups. Protein content did not differ significantly among groups at anytime during lactation. An age-related difference was detected in milk GSH-Px activities of mature milk (d 21). Mature milk produced by mothers of very preterm infants on d 21 of lactation contained significantly greater enzyme activity (p less than 0.05) than milk produced by mothers of term infants at the same stage of lactation. Activity of GSH-Px in milk from mothers of very preterm and preterm infants paralleled previously noted changes in long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid content in human milk with the progression of lactation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The Impact of Gestational Length on Human Milk Selenium Concentration and Glutathione Peroxidase Activity

Abstract

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