Lactational changes in concentration and distribution of ganglioside molecular species in human breast milk from Chinese mothers

Abstract

Gangliosides play a critical role in human brain development and function. Human breast milk (HBM) is an important dietary source of gangliosides for the growing infant. In this study, ganglioside concentrations were measured in the breast milk from a cross-sectional sample of Chinese mothers over an 8-month lactation period. The average total ganglioside concentration increased from 13.1 mg/l during the first month to 20.9 mg/l by 8 months of lactation. The average concentration during the typically solely breast-feeding period of 1‒6 months was 18.9 mg/l. This is the first study to report the relative distribution of the individual ganglioside molecular species through lactation for any population group. The ganglioside molecular species are made up of different fatty acid moieties that influence the physical properties of these gangliosides, and hence affect their function. The GM(3) molecular species containing long-chain acyl fatty acids had the most prominent changes, increasing in both concentration and relative distribution. The equivalent long-chain acyl fatty acid GD(3) molecular species typically decreased in concentration and relative distribution. The lactational trends for both concentration and relative distribution for the very long-chain acyl fatty acid molecular species were more varied. The major GM(3) and GD(3) molecular species during lactation were d40:1 and d42:1, respectively. An understanding of ganglioside molecular species distribution in HBM is essential for accurate application of mass spectrometry methods for ganglioside quantification.

Temporal Changes of Human Breast Milk Lipids of Chinese Mothers

“…Our data confirmed, as previously reported [14,16,17,29,63,64], that the amount of GD changes during the lactation period, with GD3 decreasing and GM3 increasing over the lactation period. Rueda et al [15] postulated that a high concentration of GD3 in early milk may reflect its biological role in the development of organs, such as the intestine, as was observed in our study in all cities.…”

“…When considering average values, in colostrum and transitional milk, GM3 content (3.8 and 5.5 mg/L, respectively) was lower than the one reported by Ma et al [63] (6.5–7.1 and 8.3–9.6 mg/L, respectively). Within mature milk, at 1–2 months GM3 content (9.08 mg/L) was comparable to the one reported by Ma et al [63,64] (8.3–11.3 mg/L) and higher than the content reported by Thakkar et al [48] (2.3–2.9 mg/L); after 3–8 months GM3 content (10.46–12.92 mg/L) was lower than what reported by Ma et al [63,64] (17.4–21.4 mg/L) and higher than the content reported by Thakkar et al [48] (3.9 mg/L). However, when considering minimum and maximum values, GM3 contents (0.63–13.03, 1.01–17.71, and 0.8–34.41 mg/L, in colostrum, transitional, and mature milk, respectively) were comparable with GM3 contents previously reported [48,63,64].…”

“…In the studied population, the sum of GM3 and GD3 increased from 8.0 mg/L in colostrum to 11.0 mg/L in mature milk, as previously published [29]. It has been reported [64] that the sum of GM3 and GD3 can range from as low as 2 mg/L to as high as 25 mg/L, depending on breast milk sampling, population demographics, diet, and analytical methodologies. In this study, total ganglioside content ranged from 1.66–28.44 mg/L in colostrum, 2.77–22.04 mg/L in transitional milk, and between 0.90–36.88 mg/L in mature milk, covering total GD contents previous reported, i.e., 2.8–59.7 mg/L in colostrum [14,15,17,18,29,63,65], 0.9–30.7 mg/L in transitional [14,15,17,18,63,65], and 1.6–68.6 mg/L in mature milk [14,15,17,18,29,48,63,65,66].…”

Milk Glycans and Their Interaction with the Infant-Gut Microbiota

“…The glycolipids GD3 [Neu5Ac(α2-8)Neu5Ac(α2-3)Gal(β1-4)Glc(β1-1) ceramide] and GM3 [Neu5Ac(α2-3)Gal(β1-4)Glc(β1-1) ceramide] are gangliosides in human milk (Lee et al 2011, Newburg 2013). Ganglioside composition changes over the course of lactation, with GM3 increasing and GD3 decreasing (Ma et al 2015, Pan & Izumi 2000). …”

Correlation between dietary intake and serum ganglioside concentrations: a cross-sectional study among Malaysian toddlers

“…Foods of plant origin are not a source of gangliosides as they lack the pathway to synthesize sialic acid [7]. Estimates of ganglioside contents in human milk ranged between 1.7 and 68.6 mg/L [17][18][19][20], while that for reconstituted infant formula is about 2-16 mg/L [20][21][22][23]. Infants receiving bovine-based milk formula are reported to ingest as little as 20% of the ganglioside consumed by exclusively breastfed infants [22].…”