Affiliations: Departamento de Fisiología, Farmacología
& Toxicología, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, Valencia,
Spain | Departamento de Nutrición, Universidad Cardenal
Herrera-CEU, Valencia, Spain | Centro de Salud Moncada, Servei Valenciá de Salut,
Valencia, Spain
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Francisco Javier Romero,
Departamento de Fisiología, Farmacología & Toxicología,
Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, Av. Seminario s/n, 46113-Moncada, Valencia,
Spain. Tel.: +34961369000; Fax: +34961395272; E-mail: jromero@uch.ceu.es
Abstract: Breastfeeding and human milk are widely accepted as optimal for
human infants' nutrition. Nowadays lifestyle often makes it difficult to
maintain or even initiate human lactation. This situation is mostly related to
the workload of women away from home. New approaches are needed to enable
maternal lactation under these circumstances. Human breastmilk storage for
differed use is one possibility. The aim of this study was to assess changes in
glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity and in the concentration of the lipid
peroxidation marker, malondialdehyde (MDA), when human milk was kept
refrigerated or frozen. Thirty-two human milk samples were assayed for GPx
activity and MDA concentration. Samples were divided in three aliquot portions,
the first to be immediately analysed, the second to be refrigerated at
4°C and analysed 24 h thereafter, and the third to be
frozen at -20°C and assayed after 10 days. GPx
activity was significantly decreased in refrigerated and in frozen milk, when
compared to their control samples. MDA was increased only in refrigerated milk
but not in frozen samples. Thus, freezing seems better than refrigeration in
order to prevent lipid peroxidation in stored human milk samples.
Keywords: human milk, storage, malondialdehyde, lipid peroxidation, glutathione peroxidase
Journal: BioFactors, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 129-137, 2004
