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IgG4 in Human Colostrum and Human Milk: Continued Local Production or Selective Transport from Serum
Author(s) -
KELLER MARGARET A.,
GENDREAUREID LILIANE,
HEINER DOUGLAS C.,
RODRIGUEZ ANNETTE,
SHORT JEFFREY A.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1988.tb10592.x
Subject(s) - colostrum , breast milk , medicine , antibody , milk production , zoology , endocrinology , immunology , biology , biochemistry
. Colostrum, mature milk, and paired plasma samples were obtained from 10 postpartum women who had not been previously studied. The geometric mean concentration of IgG4 in colostrum (3.3 μg/ml) was similar to the mean concentration in mature milk (3.0 μg/ml). The arithmetic mean for the percent of IgG = IgG4 was 10.3±3.3% for colostrum, 10.3±3.1% for mature milk, 2.6±0.3% for early plasma, and 1.7±0.3% for later plasma. Local mammary production of immunoglobulin was determined by subtracting the estimated serum contribution from the measured concentration in colostrum or milk. Evidence for local mammary production of IgG4 was found in 5 of 10 colostrum samples and 8 of 10 mature milk samples. These observations indicate that the previously observed selective enrichment of IgG4 in colostrum is also true for mature milk. These are the first studies suggesting continued local production of any immunoglobulin other than IgA in mature human breast milk.