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Triacylglycerol structure of human colostrum and mature milk

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Lipids

Abstract

Because triacylglycerol (TAG) structure influences the metabolic fate of its component fatty acids, we have examined human colostrum and mature milk TAG with particular attention to the location of the very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid on the glycerol backbone. The analysis was based on the formation of various diacylglycerol species from human milk TAG upon chemical (Grignard degradation) or enzymatic degradation. The structure of the TAG was subsequently deduced from data obtained by gas chromatographic analysis of the fatty acid methyl esters in the diacylglycerol subfractions. The highly specific TAG structure observed was identical in mature milk and colostrum. The three major fatty acids (oleic, palmitic and linoleic acids) each showed a specific preference for a particular position within milk TAG: oleic acid for thesn-1 position, palmitic acid for thesn-2 position and linoleic acid for thesn-3 position. Linoleic and α-linolenic acids exhibited the same pattern of distribution and they were both found primarily in thesn-3 (50%) andsn-1 (30%) positions. Their longer chain analogs, arachidonic and docosahexaenoic acids, were located in thesn-2 andsn-3 positions. These results show that polyunsaturated fatty acids are distributed within the TAG molecule of human milk in a highly specific fashion, and that in the first month of lactation the maturation of the mammary gland does not affect the milk TAG structure.

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Abbreviations

BHT:

butylated hydroxytoluene

DHA:

docosahexaenoic acid

GPC:

glycerophosphocholine

PUFA:

polyunsaturated fatty acids

TAG:

triacylglycerol

TLC:

thin-layer chromatography

VLC-PUFA:

very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Nutrition et Clinique Médicale A, Faculté de Médecine, Université François Rabelais, 2 bis Bd Tonnellé, 37032, Tours, cedex, France

    Jean-Charles Martin (Recipient of a BSN group fellowship) & Charles Couet

  2. Laboratoire de Biologie des Tumeurs, Faculté de Médcine, 37032, Tours

    Philippe Bougnoux & Monique Lanson

  3. Direction Scientifique, BSN, 75008, Paris

    Jean-Michel Antoine

Authors
  1. Jean-Charles Martin
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  2. Philippe Bougnoux
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  3. Jean-Michel Antoine
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  4. Monique Lanson
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  5. Charles Couet
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Martin, JC., Bougnoux, P., Antoine, JM. et al. Triacylglycerol structure of human colostrum and mature milk. Lipids 28, 637–643 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02536059

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02536059

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