A peptidomic analysis of human milk digestion in the infant stomach reveals protein-specific degradation patterns.

ABSTRACT: In vitro digestion of isolated milk proteins results in milk peptides with a variety of actions. However, it remains unclear to what degree protein degradation occurs in vivo in the infant stomach and whether peptides previously annotated for bioactivity are released. This study combined nanospray LC separation with time-of-flight mass spectrometry, comprehensive structural libraries, and informatics to analyze milk from 3 human mothers and the gastric aspirates from their 4- to 12-d-old postpartum infants. Milk from the mothers contained almost 200 distinct peptides, demonstrating enzymatic degradation of milk proteins beginning either during lactation or between milk collection and feeding. In the gastric samples, 649 milk peptides were identified, demonstrating that digestion continues

SUBMITTER: Dallas DC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4018946 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature