Warren C D, Chaturvedi P, Newburg A R, Oftedal O T, Tilden C D, Newburg D S
Shriver Center for Mental Retardation, Waltham, MA, USA.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2001;501:325-32. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4615-1371-1_40.
Human milk contains large amounts of many oligosaccharides, most of which are fucosylated; several inhibit pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and toxins that cause disease in humans. Although bovine milk is known to have much less and many fewer types of oligosaccharides, no studies heretofore have indicated whether the amount or complexity of human milk oligosaccharides is unique to our species. Toward this end, a comparison was made of the major individual oligosaccharides in milk specimens from a variety of species, including the great apes. The neutral compounds, which represent the bulk of oligosaccharides in human milk, were isolated, perbenzoylated, resolved by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and detected at 229nm. Ambiguous structures were determined by mass spectrometry. All milk specimens contained lactose, although levels were quite low in bear and kangaroo milk. The types of oligosaccharides in milk specimens from the primates resembled those of human milk, but the amounts, especially of the larger molecules, were markedly lower. The relative amounts of oligosaccharides in the bonobo changed over the course of lactation, as they do in humans. Marine mammals generally had few oligosaccharides in their milk other than 2'-fucosyllactose. Grizzly and black bear milk specimens contained a wide range of oligosaccharides, many of which had novel, fucosylated structures. Milk specimens from humans, bears, and marsupials had the greatest quantity of, and the most complex, neutral oligosaccharides. Although human milk contained more oligosaccharide than did milk specimens from the other species studied, the presence of appreciable amounts of complex oligosaccharides was not unique to humans. This finding suggests that in animal milk specimens, as in human milk, neutral fucosylated oligosaccharides potentially offer protection from pathogens to offspring with immature immune systems.
人乳中含有大量多种低聚糖，其中大部分是岩藻糖基化的；有几种能抑制导致人类疾病的致病细菌、病毒和毒素。虽然已知牛乳中的低聚糖种类少得多、数量也少得多，但迄今为止尚无研究表明人乳低聚糖的数量或复杂性是否为人类所特有。为此，对包括大猩猩在内的多种物种的乳汁样本中的主要单一低聚糖进行了比较。分离出代表母乳中大部分低聚糖的中性化合物，进行全苯甲酰化，通过高效液相色谱（HPLC）分离，并在229nm处检测。通过质谱确定结构不明确的化合物。所有乳汁样本都含有乳糖，不过熊奶和袋鼠奶中的乳糖水平相当低。灵长类动物乳汁样本中的低聚糖种类与母乳相似，但数量，尤其是较大分子的数量明显较低。倭黑猩猩乳汁中低聚糖的相对含量在哺乳期会发生变化，就像人类一样。除了2'-岩藻糖基乳糖外，海洋哺乳动物的乳汁中通常几乎没有低聚糖。灰熊和黑熊的乳汁样本含有多种低聚糖，其中许多具有新颖的岩藻糖基化结构。人类、熊和有袋动物的乳汁样本中中性低聚糖的数量最多且最复杂。虽然人乳中的低聚糖比其他研究物种的乳汁样本中的多，但大量复杂低聚糖的存在并非人类所特有。这一发现表明，在动物乳汁样本中，就像在人乳中一样，中性岩藻糖基化低聚糖可能为免疫系统不成熟的后代提供抵御病原体的保护。
