Abstract
Milk supports the growth and development of infants. An increasing number of mostly recent studies have demonstrated that milk contains a hitherto undescribed component called extracellular vesicles (EVs). This presents questions regarding why milk contains EVs and what their function is. Recently, we showed that EVs in human milk expose tissue factor, the protein that triggers coagulation or blood clotting, and that milk-derived EVs promote coagulation. Because bovine milk, which also contains EVs, completely lacks this coagulant activity, important differences are present in the biological functions of human milk-derived EVs between species. In this review, we will summarize the current knowledge regarding the presence and biochemical composition of milk EVs, their function(s) and potential clinical applications such as in probiotics, and the unique problems that milk EVs encounter in vivo, including survival of the gastrointestinal conditions encountered in the newborn. The main focus of this review will be human milk-derived EVs, but when available, we will also include information regarding non-human milk for comparison.
Highlights
Jean Jacques Vanden EyndeMilk is produced by mammary glands and is the “natural food” of infants [1]
Human milk triggers blood clotting [8], and recently, we demonstrated that the coagulant activity of human milk is due to the presence of tissue factor, which is present on extracellular vesicles (EVs) [33]
All evidence far confirms that milk-derived EVs promote epithelial barrier function, one must keep in mind that most, if not all, of these studies have used impure EVs and experiments were performed in mixed-model species, which hampers the interpretation of the reported results
Summary
Milk is produced by mammary glands and is the “natural food” of infants [1]. Milk contains such nutrients as carbohydrates, lipids, minerals, proteins, and vitamins [2,3,4]. Body fluids concurrently contain different types of EVs, but since there are no unique biochemical and/or physical properties known yet to distinguish one type of EV from the other, we prefer to use the term. All body even fluids, including amniotic fluid, blood, saliva, the presence of EVs has demonstrated in term milk from camels, cows, goats, andThe somes”. Has worked to actively improve the rigor, standardization and sincesince the presence of EVs has been demonstrated in milk from camels, cows, goats, the presence of EVs has been demonstrated in milk from camels, cows, goats, Society for Vesicles for introduced the term “excredibility of EVand research by publishing theEVs. Minimal on Extracellular pigspigs [14,15,16,17]. Cellular origin of Properties and Cellular Origin of Extracellular Vesicles in Milk
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