Journal
NUTRIENTS
Volume 11, Issue 11, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/nu11112640
Keywords
Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs); placenta; placental transport; secretor status; pregnancy; fetal circulation; 2'-fucosyllactose
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Funding
- People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 [627056]
- Austrian National Bank (OeNB) [16927]
- BioTechMed-Graz, Austria
- Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research [BMWFW-10.420/0005-WF/V/3c/2017]
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Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are present in maternal serum in early gestation, raising the question of whether HMOs can cross the placental barrier and reach fetal circulation. Here, we aimed to detect HMOs in cord blood, and assess HMO composition and concentration in relation to maternal HMOs. In an ex-vivo placental perfusion model, we asked whether HMOs can pass over the placenta. Using HPLC, we measured HMOs in maternal serum and matching venous cord blood samples collected at delivery from normal pregnancies (n = 22). To investigate maternal-to-fetal transport, we perfused isolated placental cotyledons from term pregnancies (n = 3) with 2'-fucosyllactose (2'FL) in a double closed setting. We found up to 18 oligosaccharides typically present in maternal serum in all cord serum samples investigated. Median total cord blood HMO concentration did not differ from the concentration in maternal serum. HMO composition resembled the composition in maternal serum, with the strongest correlations for 2'FL and LDFT. After 180 min perfusion, we found 22% of maternally offered 2'FL in the fetal circuit without reaching equilibrium. Our results provide direct evidence of HMOs in cord blood, and suggest that the placenta transfers HMOs from the maternal to fetal circuit. Future studies will investigate potential differences in the transfer of specific HMOs, or in pregnancy disorders.
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