Work

Bacterial Community of Breast Milk in Breastfeeding Women Using Culture-Dependent and Culture-Independent Approaches

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Materials and Methods Sample Preparation of Breast MilkThis study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Dongduk Women's University (approval number: DDWU2206-04).Breast milk samples were collected from September 2022 to February 2023.Healthy breastfeeding mothers aged 20 to 40 years who had given birth between 36 and 40 weeks of gestation and had no history of being high-risk pregnant women within 6 months postpartum were chosen as subjects.Five breastfeeding women who This study aimed to analyze bacterial communities in breast milk obtained from five breastfeeding women.Culture-dependent and culture-independent methods were used to analyze microbial communities.Total bacterial count of breast milk determined using plate count agar ranged from 3.3 × 10 4 ± 3.5 × 10 2 colony forming unit (CFU)/g to 1.7 × 10 5 ± 3.5 × 10 3 CFU/g, with a pH between 6.4 and 6.8.Only three species, Leuconostoc citreum (17 out of 160 strains; 10.63%), Staphylococcus epidermidis (118 strains; 73.75%), and Staphylococcus lugdunensis (25 strains; 15.63%), belong to the phylum Bacillota were detected by culture-dependent analysis.Microbial communities analyzed via pyrosequencing revealed greater diversity compared to the culture-dependent analysis.At the phylum level, Bacillota accounted for 60.9% of the microbial community.At the genus level, Staphylococcus (24.57%),Streptococcus (22.93%), and Methylobacterium (8.76%) were dominant genera.While pyrosequencing demonstrated greater microbial diversity than the agar plate culture method, identified microbes might lack information or include many unculturable microbes.Most of all, considering the low total bacterial count averaging 7.2 × 10 4 CFU/g, further research is needed to determine the significance of microbial presence in breast milk.

Source: Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology

DOI: 10.4014/jmb.2407.07001

Authors: Sumin Lee, Sojeong Heo, Mi-Kyung Park, Moon-Hee Sung, Do-Won Jeong

Institutions: Dongduk Women's University, Kyungpook National University

Language: English

Topic: Infant Nutrition and Health

Subfield: Nutrition and Dietetics

Field: Nursing

Domain: Health Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Zero hunger

Open Access status: bronze

Funders: National Research Foundation, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, National Research Foundation of Korea, Korea Institute of Planning and Evaluation for Technology in Food, Agriculture and Forestry