Molecular forms of lactoferrin in stool and urine from infants fed human milk

ABSTRACT ABSTRACT: The molecular forms of lactoferrin (LF) were examined in stools and urine collected at 2.5 or 5 wk of age from very low birth wt infants fed either a cow's milk

formula or a fortified human milk preparation. LF was not found by Western blotting in excreta from infants fed cow's milk. In contrast, intact and fragmented forms of IF were detected

in stools and concentrated urine of each infant who received human milk. Only intact LF was detected in the fortified human milk preparation, whereas many types of LF fragments were present

in the stools and urine. The approximate molecular wt of the most prominent fragments were 44, 38, 34, and 32 kD. However, the stools also displayed lower molecular wt fragments that were

not found in urines of those infants. The LF fragments in those excreta were similar in size to those produced _in vitro_ by limited digestion of apo-LF with trypsin. Furthermore, fragments

produced by _in vitro_ proteolysis were immunoreactive in an ELISA for LF. Thus, the fragments of LF in stools of very low birth wt infants fed human milk appeared to be produced by _in

vivo_ proteolysis, and the close resemblance between the LF fragments in the stools and urine suggests that the urinary LF fragments originated in the gastrointestinal tract. It remains

unclear, however, whether the whole LF molecules that were fragmented were derived solely from ingested LF in human milk or in part from LF produced by the infant in response to human milk

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ARTICLE PDF AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Pediatrics, Human Biological Chemistry and Genetics, and Microbiology, The University of Texas Medical Branch,

Galveston, 77550, Texas Armond S Goldman & Randall M Goldblum * Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14853, New York Cutberto Garza * The Department of

Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Houston, 77030, Texas Richard J Schanler Authors * Armond S Goldman

View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Cutberto Garza View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Richard J Schanler View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Randall M Goldblum View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Goldman, A., Garza, C., Schanler, R. _et al._ Molecular Forms of Lactoferrin in

Stool and Urine from Infants Fed Human Milk. _Pediatr Res_ 27, 252–255 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199003000-00009 Download citation * Received: 28 March 1989 * Accepted: 13

October 1989 * Issue Date: 01 March 1990 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199003000-00009 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this

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