Inhibition of cholera toxin by human milk fractions and sialyllactose.

The effects of human milk fractions on clolera toxin B subunit binding to monosialoganglioside 1 (GM1) were investigated. Human milk, human defatted milk, whey, and a low-molecular-weight fraction of human milk inhibited the binding, but casein did not inhibit it. The inhibitory activity of whey from bovine-milk-based infant formula was less than that of whey from human milk. Differences in composition between human and bovine whey seemed to influence the extent of the inhibitory activity. Sialylated oligosaccharides were considered to be the possible components that inhibited cholera toxin. The effects of sialyllactose, a predominant sialylated component of human milk, on cholera toxin-induced diarrhea were investigated by the rabbit intestinal loop method. Sialyllactose inhibited the cholera toxin inducing fluid accumulation, although neither sialic acid nor lactose had an effect on it. The results suggest that sialyllactose is responsible for the inhibitory activity of milk on cholera toxin.