We investigated the importance of two enzymes (superoxide dismutase - SOD and
glutathione peroxidase - GSH-Px) in the antioxidant defence of newborns and
analysed their activity in: human colostrum and milk (from 63 mothers, after
normal delivery, without complications or signs of infection), gastric fluid
(from 10 breast-fed newborns, 7-28 days after birth; and from 15
artificially-fed newborns, with no signs of infection, 7-28 days after
birth), and plasma (from 10 newborns, 1- 28 days old, with no signs of
infection, and 10 newborns, 1-28 days old, with signs of neonatal sepsis).
The results of the study showed that there was statistically significant
increased activity of SOD (p<0.001) in colostrum compared to mature milk.
There was no statistically important difference in the activity of GSHPx
between those two samples. The activity of SOD in the gastric fluid of the
artificially-fed newborns was statistically significantly lower than in the
breast-fed newborns (p<0.001). The same results were found for mature
mother?s milk. We discovered a significant increase of SOD plasma activity in
the newborns with sepsis, compared to the breast-fed newborns, with no signs
of infection. The negative correlation between the activities of SOD and
GSH-Px in the gastric fluid samples of the breast-fed and the
artificially-fed newborns and the newborns with sepsis, showed that the
activities of both enzymes were important for adequate antioxidant defence
during the neonatal period. Breast-feeding with both colostrum and mature
human milk is probably very important for adequate antioxidant defence in
newborns.
Importance of breast-feeding in antioxidant defense
