Analysis of immune cells in peripheral blood and colostrum from obese mothers in Mexico

Abstract

Breastfeeding provides newborns not only nutritional short-term nutrient supply, but also long-term benefits in neural, metabolic, and immune development. Several bioactive components of human milk mediate these long-term benefits over immunity, including living bacteria and leukocytes, or even some modulators like cytokines and antibodies. The immunological properties of milk change over lactation progress and the colostrum (stage of lactation produced within 2 days after birth) is the stage with the highest concentration of these factors. Other factors like maternal health status, genetics or daily variations also influence on milk composition. In this scenario, prolactin promotes leukocyte migration to mammary glands and milk. However, the role of chronic conditions on human milk immune composition like obesity is poorly studied. This is especially important in countries with high rates of maternal obesity, like Mexico, where more than two-thirds of adult women suffer any grade of overweight or obesity. Here, we present an extensive flow-cytometry based characterization of leukocyte subpopulations in peripheral blood and colostrum from lean and obese mothers, as well as an analysis of some of their phenotypes. With this data, we aim to better understanding if obesity affects the process of leukocyte migration to human milk, and promotes possible changes on functionality of human milk leukocytes.