New regulatory hormones of breast milk

Background: Breastfeeding is supposed to exert long-term protection of the infant from the development of civilisation diseases later in life. Adiponectin, leptin and AFABP are candidate proteins in nutritional programming of the infant. Aim: To determine intraindividual changes of breast milk levels of regulatory hormones (adiponectin, leptin, AFABP) and adipophilin in breast milk during 12 months of lactation. Methods: Proteins were measured using high sensitive ELISA method in 72 healthy mothers within 2 days of beginning of lactation (day 0) and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months following delivery. Results: Adiponectin levels in breast milk on day 0 (D0) were 22.8 ± 0.8 (mean ± S.E.M.), in 1 month (M1) 22.0 ± 0.6, in 3 months (M3) 20.5 ± 0.6, in 6 months (M6) 21.4 ± 0.8, and in 12 months (M12) 25.7±1.4 ng/ml. AFABP levels were 12.3 ± 2.0, 6.2 ± 1.3, 1.3 ± 0.2, 2.5 ± 1.0 and 4.6 ± 1.9 ng/ml, respectively. Leptin levels were 0.3 ± 0.04, 0.2 ± 0.03, 0.1 ± 0.01, 0.1 ± 0.02 and 0.2 ± 0.04 ng/ml, respectively. Adipophilin levels in D0 were 1.98 ± 0.12, in M1 2.83 ± 0.21, in M3 2.39 ± 0.17, in M6 2.57 ± 0.16, and in M12 3.25 ± 0.21 μg/ml. We found significantly higher levels of adiponectin in M12 in comparison to M3 and M6 (p = 0.0026), higher levels of AFABP in D0 and M1 when compared to M3, M6 and M12 (p < 0.0001) and..