Department of Forensic Medicine, Tokai University School of Medicine, 143 Shimokasuya, Isehara, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan.
Support Center for Medical Research and Education, Tokai University, Kanagawa, Japan.
Int J Legal Med. 2020 May;134(3):903-909. doi: 10.1007/s00414-019-02226-7. Epub 2019 Dec 12.
Recently, we were consulted about a challenging case, where an infant died by poisoning and the drug-dependent mother insisted that she unintentionally gave the toxic drug through breast milk. Accordingly, we investigated the utility of immunoblotting and microRNA (miRNA) profiling of the infant's gastric content (GC) to differentiate between breast-feeding and formula-feeding. As a pilot study, we sampled the GC from breast-fed (GCB) and formula-fed (GCF) infants, as well as gastric juice (GJ) from fasted adults at autopsy. Breast milk (BM) samples were collected from volunteers within 1 year post-delivery. By immunoblotting, lactoferrin and gross cystic disease fluid protein (GCDEP) were clearly detected in BM, but could not be detected in GCB. Similarly, β-lactoglobulin was detected in formula milk, but could not be detected in GCF. Meanwhile, miRNA sequencing revealed that the miRNA expression profile of GCB was closer to BM than GCF and GJ. Especially, miR-151a and miR-186 were more abundant in BM and GCB than in GCF and GJ. Our study is the first to elucidate the human GJ miRNA profile and demonstrate the possibility that miR-151a and miR-186 in GC may be the biomarker of breast-feeding.
最近，我们接到一个极具挑战性的案例咨询，一名婴儿中毒身亡，而依赖药物的母亲坚称她是无意间通过母乳将有毒药物喂给婴儿的。因此，我们研究了免疫印迹和婴儿胃内容物（GC）中小分子 RNA（miRNA）谱分析在区分母乳喂养和配方奶喂养中的应用。作为一项初步研究，我们对母乳喂养（GCB）和配方奶喂养（GCF）婴儿的 GC 以及剖检时禁食成人的胃液（GJ）进行了取样。我们还在产后 1 年内从志愿者处采集母乳（BM）样本。通过免疫印迹，在 BM 中可清楚检测到乳铁蛋白和大囊泡疾病液体蛋白（GCDEP），但在 GCB 中无法检测到。同样，β-乳球蛋白在配方奶中被检测到，但在 GCF 中无法检测到。同时，miRNA 测序表明，GCB 的 miRNA 表达谱与 BM 更接近，而与 GCF 和 GJ 则相差更远。特别是，miR-151a 和 miR-186 在 BM 和 GCB 中的丰度均高于 GCF 和 GJ。我们的研究首次阐明了人类 GJ 的 miRNA 图谱，并证明了 GC 中的 miR-151a 和 miR-186 可能是母乳喂养的生物标志物。
