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Regenerative Potential of Human Breast Milk: A Natural Reservoir of Nutrients, Bioactive Components and Stem cells

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Abstract

Human milk is a complex fluid that contains carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and other bioactive molecules (immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, human milk oligosaccharides, lysozyme, leukocytes, cytokines, hormones, and microbiome) which provide nutritional, immunological, and developmental benefits to the infant. In addition to their involvement in the development, these bioactive compounds have a key role in anti-oncogenicity, neuro-cognitive development, cellular communication, and differentiation. As a result of technological advancements, it has been discovered that human breast milk contains cells that display many of the characteristics of stem cells with multilineage differentiation potentials. Do these cells have any specific properties or roles? Research efforts on breast milk cells have been mainly focused on leukocytes based on their immunological perspective in the early postpartum period. This review summarizes the nutritional components in human milk, i.e., the macro and micronutrients required for the growth and development of infants. Further, it discusses the research work reported concerning the purification, propagation, and differentiation of breast milk progenitor cells and highlights the advancements made in this newly emerging field of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Department of Science and Technology, "Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE)" Government of India, for their support.

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  1. Tissue Engineering and Biomicrofluidics Laboratory, School of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221005, India

    Pooja Kumari, Aayushi Raval, Pranav Rana & Sanjeev Kumar Mahto

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Pooja Kumari: Conceptualization, Writing—Original Draft, Data Curation, Writing—Review & Editing; Aayushi Raval: Writing—Original Draft, Data collection, Reviewing and Editing; Pranav Rana: Reviewing and Editing; Sanjeev Kumar Mahto: Supervision, Project Administration, Reviewing and Editing.

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Kumari, P., Raval, A., Rana, P. et al. Regenerative Potential of Human Breast Milk: A Natural Reservoir of Nutrients, Bioactive Components and Stem cells. Stem Cell Rev and Rep 19, 1307–1327 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12015-023-10534-0

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