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Title: PRESENCE OF IMMUNOREACTIVE ADRENOMEDULLIN IN HUMAN AND BOVINE MILK

Author
item PIO, RUBEN - NATIONAL CANCER INST.,NIH
item MARTINEZ, ALFREDO - NATIONAL CANCER INST.,NIH
item Elsasser, Theodore
item CUTTITTA, FRANK - NATIONAL CANCER INST.,NIH

Submitted to: Peptides
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/15/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Milk of all species naturally contains many hormones that assist the newborn in development and growth. We recently identified an new and novel peptide hormone called adrenomedullin in the mammary glands of mice and dairy cows. In this experiment we determined that the hormone adrenomedullin is released and is present in the milk of humans as well as cow's milk. Concentrations in human milk were2 to 6 times that found in cow's milk. Milk products such as pasteurized whole milk, skim milk and other products contained levels of adrenomedullin that were comparable those measured in fresh cow's milk. Additional data suggest that the presence of adrenomedullin in milk may benefit newborns through its actions to stimulate the growth and final development of cells in the intestine.

Technical Abstract: We examined by radioimmunoassay the presence of immunoreactive adrenomedullin (ir-AM) in human and bovine milk. Milk samples displaced radioactive iodine labeled AM from the AM antiserum in parallel to the standard curve. RP-HPLC revealed a main immunoreactive peak eluting as synthetic AM. Concentrations of AM in human milk ranged between 140 and 404 pg/ml. In cow's milk, the levels of AM were 73.5+/- 3.8 pg/ml. Retai bovine milk products had AM levels similar to those found in fresh milk. Human milk had growth promoting activity on the human intestinal cell line INT-407 that could be partially blocked with an anti-AM serum