Department of Pediatrics, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210004, China.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2021 May;65(10):e2000845. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.202000845. Epub 2021 Apr 22.
Human milk can prevent the development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Human milk is rich in cargo-carrying exosomes that participate in intercellular communication. This study investigated the effects of term and preterm human milk-derived exosomes, and elucidated their lipid expression profiles.
Milk from healthy mothers is collected who have delivered full-term or preterm infants, and exosomes are isolated and quantified. Administration of term and preterm milk exosomes significantly enhances epithelial proliferation and migration in vitro, and ameliorates the severity of NEC in vivo. A total of 395 lipids are identified in term and preterm human milk-derived exosomes. Bioinformatics analysis and western blotting reveal that top 50 lipids regulate intestinal epithelial cell function via the Extracellular-Signal-Regulated Kinase/Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (ERK/MAPK) pathway.
This study reveals for the first time the lipidomic complexities in exosomes derived from preterm and term milk. The results provide novel mechanistic insight on how human milk prevents the development of NEC.
人乳可以预防坏死性小肠结肠炎（NEC）的发生。人乳富含参与细胞间通讯的货物携带外泌体。本研究调查了足月和早产人乳衍生外泌体的作用，并阐明了它们的脂质表达谱。
从足月或早产婴儿的健康母亲那里收集母乳，并分离和定量外泌体。给予足月和早产奶外泌体可显著增强体外上皮细胞增殖和迁移，并改善体内 NEC 的严重程度。在足月和早产人乳衍生的外泌体中鉴定出 395 种脂质。生物信息学分析和 Western blot 显示，前 50 种脂质通过细胞外信号调节激酶/丝裂原激活蛋白激酶（ERK/MAPK）途径调节肠上皮细胞功能。
本研究首次揭示了来自早产和足月奶的外泌体的脂质组复杂性。结果为母乳如何预防 NEC 的发生提供了新的机制见解。
