The Impact of Formula fortified with Milk Fat Globule Membrane on the Neonatal Intestine
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background Breastmilk provides the ideal nutrient source during development. However, in some cases it is not available in adequate amounts, if at all (especially following premature delivery), to the developing infant resulting in a need for formula feeding. As achieving appropriate growth during this early time is essential for proper development and protection from noxious stimuli, there is a need for the composition of formula to mimic that of breastmilk as closely as possible. Fat in breastmilk, a major source of energy for the newborn, contains a unique and very complex triple membrane structure referred to as the Milk Fat Globule Membrane (MFGM) resulting in strikingly large fat molecules (average size of 5μm in human milk). Surprisingly, the fat component in formula is derived from vegetable sources rather than MFGM, which differ greatly in size and composition. Interestingly, although studies in several adult models of infection and inflammation have attributed protective effects to MFGM supplementation, its role in the newborn intestine and its development has not thoroughly been explored. Objective To examine the effects of Milk Fat Globule Membrane (MFGM) on postnatal development of the small intestine and colon. Methods Rat pups were artificially reared using the pup‐in‐a‐cup model to examine the effects of MFGM (1.2 or 6 mg/mL) supplementation on early intestinal development. Rat pups underwent gastronomy at postnatal day (PD) 5 and were supplemented with formula containing soy (control formula) or MFGM+soy until PD15, at which point they were euthanized along with mother reared littermates, resulting in three groups. Small (jeujunal, ileal) and large intestinal (distal colon) samples were collected for histological assessment and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results Although no overt differences were noted in pup weight or overall length of the small or large intestine at PD15 between the three groups, histological assessment revealed significant changes in the epithelial architecture along the length of the intestine (jejunum, ileum and colon). MFGM supplementation resulted in significant dose dependent changes at the intestinal surface, resulting in crypt depths similar to those recorded in mother reared (MR) pups at PD15. IHC analysis of intestinal sections revealed similar positive staining between MFGM and MR pups for major cell types within the epithelium (goblet cells and enterocytes), rates of cell proliferation, and tight junction proteins. Conclusion MFGM normalizes many aspects of intestinal development similar to that observed in mother reared littermates. Its supplementation in formula may be beneficial in neonates who do not have access to breast milk, particularly pre‐term infants to accelerate intestinal development. Support or Funding Information Ganive Bhinder is funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Phd Studentship and University of British Columbia 4 year fellowship. Milk Fat Globule Membrane for this study was provided by Mead Johnson Nutrition.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".