THE IN-VITRO ANTIMICROBIAL CAPACITY OF HUMAN COLOSTRUM AGAINST CHLAMYDIA-TRACHOMATIS

We sought to assess the antimicrobial capacity of human colostrum agai nst Chlamydia trachomatis, a common agent of ophthalmia neonatorum Col ostrum was collected from 13 post-partum females and tested in an in v itro assay of chlamydial growth inhibition using HeLa 229 cells as the host cell line. All samples significantly inhibited chlamydial growth in a dose-response manner. The percent inhibition ranged from 45.3 to 99.0 (mean = 88.1 +/- 4.1). The chlamydial growth inhibition activity of colostrum was found to be: heat- and freezing-resistant: more conc entrated in colostrum than breast milk; was not attributable to interf eron or antibody activity; and, could not be attributed to host cell c ytotoxicity. Additionally, chlamydial growth inhibition occurred in le ss than or equal to 15 min and was effective only when colostrum was i ncubated with chlamydiae prior to addition to HeLa 229 monolayers. Las tly, centrifugal fractionation of the colostrum yielded similar activi ty in the lipid pellicle and in the lipid-free supernatant. These resu lts indicate that topically applied colostrum may have efficacy in the prophylaxis of ophthalmia neonatorum of chlamydial etiology in the ab sence of conventional modalities. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Lt d. All rights reserved.