Evaluation of IgA antibody, Melatonin and Cortisol levels in diurnal and nocturnal colostrum samples from healthy puerperae that delivery by vaginal and caesarean partum

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Evaluation of IgA antibody, Melatonin and Cortisol levels in diurnal and nocturnal colostrum samples from healthy puerperae that delivery by vaginal and caesarean partum GERLANDIA N. PONTES1* 1 University of São Paulo - USP, Department of Physiology/Department of Pediatrics, Brazil Human breast milk is rich in maternal leukocytes, immunoglobulins, and hormones, and therefore transfer immunity passively for the newborn. Here we compared the diurnal and nocturnal IgA, melatonin and cortisol levels in colostrum from healthy mothers that delivery by vaginal (n = 11) and caesarean (n = 9) partum. Melatonin levels of colostrum from mothers, who had vaginal delivery, was significantly higher at night when compared with day values (day = 4.1+0.4; night = 39.9+3.3 pg/ml, P < 0.0001, paired t-test). Whereas, cortisol levels of colostrum from mothers, who had vaginal delivery, was significantly higher at day when compared with night values (day = 3.0+0.5; night = 1.6+0.2 ng/ml, P = 0.005, paired t-test). However, melatonin and cortisol levels in colostrum obtained from mothers, who had caesarean delivery did not show a diurnal variation (day = 20.7+0.7; night = 24.6+2.3 pg/ml and day = 6.2+0.2; night = 5.7+0.5 ng/ml, respectively). On the other hand, no significant difference between diurnal and nocturnal IgA levels from mothers, who had vaginal or caesarean delivery were detected: (diurnal = 2.6+0.3; nocturnal = 2.7+0.9 g/dl and diurnal = 3.2+0.5; nocturnal = 3.2+1.3 g/dl, respectively). In conclusion, we show that healthy puerperae, who had vaginal delivery, present a significant day/night rhythms of melatonin and cortisol. Furthermore, melatonin and cortisol are inversely related, the peak of cortisol is observed in the morning and the melatonin peak is observed in the night. On the other hand, we observed no rise in diurnal or nocturnal IgA. Financial Support: FAPESP. Acknowledgements Financial Support: FAPESP.