CHANGES DURING LACTATION IN GANGLIOSIDE DISTRIBUTION IN HUMAN-MILK FROM MOTHERS DELIVERING PRETERM AND TERM INFANTS

We studied changes during lactation in the relative concentration of i ndividual gangliosides in human milk from mothers delivering preterm a nd term infants. The relative content of G(D3) was higher in colostrum than in mature milk, and tended to be higher in preterm colostrum tha n in term colostrum, whereas the relative content of G(M3) was higher in mature milk than in colostrum, and was also higher in term than in preterm milk. As G(D3) is usually detected in developing tissues where as GM3 is more abundant in mature tissues, these results suggest a rel ationship between the presence of individual gangliosides in human mil k and immaturity of the mammary gland in mothers of preterm infants.