Free Amino Acid (FAA) Quantity in Human donor milk (DM) retained

Abstract

BackgroundPreterm infants are often fed donor milk (DM) when mother's milk is not available; however, there is a paucity of data on the free amino acid (FAA) profile of DM.ObjectivesOur hypotheses were that free amino acids would be effected by pasteurization and would have FAA levels different than in milk provided by preterm mothers.Methods38 donor milk samples were collected after informed consent and IRB approval (#0600532). Lactational stages 1‐10 months were combined into 16 pools to minimize variability. Free amino acids were measured pre and post PST by HPLC. Analysis was done using two sample t‐tests with unequal variances.ResultsOnly two free amino acids were significantly different (p<0.0027) after PST of which Arginine was higher and Aspartate was lower. When comparing our PST samples to previous published amino acid means, our PST samples had significantly lower Glycine , Aspartate , Valine, Phenylalanine, Proline, Lysine, Arginine, Serine, whereas Histidine and Tyrosine were higher.ConclusionThe finding that PST alters FAA concentrations minimally is reassuring but differences from previous fresh milk concentrations prompt further investigation into targeted lactational stage or amino acid supplementation for the donor milk fed immature neonate.