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Sydney, Australia: Advanced nanoscale imaging has revealed the diversity of living cells in human milk, how these cells are structured, what they contain, and how they use nutrients, according to an Australian study.
The study provides a new view of the cellular and metabolic complexity of human milk by combining correlative imaging, stable isotope tracing and single-cell analysis to examine major cell populations, including milk-producing cells and immune cells, according to a statement released Tuesday by the University of Western Australia (UWA).
Lead author UWA PhD candidate Lin Qiongxiang said human milk is an incredibly complex biological system containing many different types of living cells, and stable isotope tracing showed that cells in human milk use nutrients in very different ways.
"When we tracked where sugar (glucose) ended up, we found it was being turned into fat droplets inside macrophages in milk, and those cells were switching on genes involved in handling fat," Lin said.
The findings, published in ACS Nano, showed that human milk cells have distinct functions to enable optimal milk composition and volume. The study also identified high levels of sulfur and iron in neutrophils, a type of immune cell that contributes to the killing of bacteria and helps protect infants from infection.
The researchers said the platform could help investigate how human milk cells vary between individuals, throughout lactation and under different maternal health conditions, including gestational diabetes. The findings could improve understanding of the biological roles of living cells in human milk and their potential importance for maternal and infant health,
