Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-45l2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T05:15:56.100Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bacteriostasis of Escherichia coli by milk. III. The activity and stability of early, transitional and mature human milk collected locally

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

Pauline Honour  and
Jean M. Dolby
Pauline Honour
Affiliation:
The Clinical Research Centre, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 3UJ
Jean M. Dolby
Affiliation:
The Clinical Research Centre, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 3UJ
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Milk from 150 local mothers has been assayed for bacteriostatic activity for milk-sensitive and milk-resistant indicator strains of Escherichia coli. Activity is greatest in colostrum which is active directly against all strains of E. coli. One week after delivery of the baby, milk is active against the milk-sensitive strain and becomes active against the milk-resistant strain in the presence of physiological amounts of bicarbonate and iron-binding protein. This activity decreases within 2–4 days on keeping milk unheated at 4 °C but is preserved for at least 4 months and often up to 2 years in milk heated to 56 °C then stored at 4 °C or in milk frozen, unheated, at −28 °C provided it is not repeatedly thawed and frozen. Later lactation milks are usually indistinguishable in activity from 1-week post-partum milk but may be less stable on storage particularly if frozen. Lyophilization in vacuo preserves activity of early-lactation milk for at least 6 months.

Heating milk to above 65 °C causes a progressive loss of activity which can be partially restored by adding bicarbonate and iron-binding protein. Iron abolishes the activity of milk and reduces that of colostrum.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 83 , Issue 2 , October 1979 , pp. 243 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

References

Aisen, P., Aasa, R., Malmstrom, B. G. & Vangaard, T. (1967). Bicarbonate and the binding of iron to transferrin. Journal of Biological Chemistry 242, 2484.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bullen, J. J., Rogers, H. J. & Leigh, L. (1972). Iron-binding proteins in milk and resistance to Escherichia coli infection in infants. British Medical Journal 1, 69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dolby, J. M., Honour, P. & Valman, H. B. (1977). Bacteriostasis of Escherichia coli by milk. I. Colonization of breast-fed infants by milk resistant organisms. Journal of Hygiene 78, 85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolby, J. M., Stephens, S. & Honour, P. (1977). Bacteriostasis of Escherichia coli by milk. II. Effect of bicarbonate and transferrin on the activity of infant feeds. Journal of Hygiene 78, 235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, T. J., Ryley, H. C., Neale, L. M., Dodge, J. A. & Lewarne, V. M. (1978). Effect of storage and heat on anti-microbial proteins in human milk. Archives of Diseases of Childhood 53, 239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, J. E., Law, B. A., Marshall, V. M. E. & Reiter, B. (1977). Influence of the heat treatment of human milk on some of its protective constituents. The Journal of Pediatrics 90, 29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gibbs, J. H., Fisher, C., Bhattacharya, S., Goddard, P. & Baum, J. D. (1977). Drip breast milk: its composition, collection and pasteurisation. Early Human Development 1, 227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffiths, E. & Humphreys, J. (1977). Bacteriostatic effect of human milk and bovine colostrum on Escherichia coli: the importance of bicarbonate. Infection and Immunity 15, 396.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mcclelland, D. B. L., Mcgrath, J. & Samson, R. R. (1978). Antimicrobial factors in human milk. Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica (Suppl.) 271, 1.Google Scholar
Miles, A. A. & Khimji, P. L. (1975). Enterobacterial chelators of iron: their occurrence, detection, and relation to pathogenicity. Journal of Medical Microbiology 8, 477.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oram, J. D. & Reiter, B. (1968). Inhibition of bacteria by lactoferrin and other chelating agents. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 170, 351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Raptopoulouc-Gigi, M., Marwick, K. & Mcclelland, D. B. L. (1977). Antimicrobial proteins in sterilised human milk. British Medical Journal 1, 12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reiter, B. (1978). Review of the progress of dairy science: antimicrobial systems in milk. Journal of Dairy Research 45, 131.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reiter, B., Brock, J. H. & Steel, E. D. (1975). Inhibition of Escherichia coli by bovine colostrum and post-colostral milk. II. The bacteriostatic effect of lactoferrin on a serum-susceptible and serum-resistant strain of E. coli. Immunology 28, 83.Google ScholarPubMed
Rogers, H. J. (1976). Ferric iron and the antibacterial effects of horse 75 antibodies to Escherichia coli O111. Immunology 30, 425.Google Scholar
Rogers, H. J. & Synge, C. (1978). Bacteriostatic effect of human milk on Escherichia coli: the role of IgA. Immunology 34, 19.Google ScholarPubMed
Spik, G., Cheron, A., Montreuil, J. & Dolby, J. M. (1978). Bacteriostasis of a milk-sensitive strain of Escherichia coli by immunoglobulins and iron-binding proteins in association. Immunology 35, 663.Google ScholarPubMed
Svirsky-Gross, S. (1958). Pathogenic strains of coli (O,111) among prematures and the use of human milk in controlling the outbreak of diarrhoea. Annales Paediatrica, Basle 190, 109.Google Scholar
Tassovatz, B. & Kotsitch, A. (1961). Le lait de femme et son action de protection contra les infections intestinale chez le nouveau-né. Semaine des Hopitaux de Paris 37 ii, 285.Google Scholar