Lipidomic Profiling of Human Milk Derived Exosomes and Their Emerging Roles in the Prevention of Necrotizing Enterocolitis.

Scope Human milk can prevent the development of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Human milk is rich in cargo-carrying exosomes that participate in intercellular communication. This study investigated the effects of term and preterm human milk-derived exosomes, and elucidated their lipid expression profiles. Methods and results We collected milk from healthy mothers who had delivered full-term or preterm infants, and exosomes were isolated and quantified. Administration of term and preterm milk exosomes significantly enhanced epithelial proliferation and migration in vitro, and ameliorated the severity of NEC in vivo. A total of 395 lipids were identified in term and preterm human milk-derived exosomes. Bioinformatics analysis and western blotting revealed that top 50 lipids regulated intestinal epithelial cell function via the ERK/MAPK pathway. Conclusion This study reveals for the first time the lipidomic complexities in exosomes derived from preterm and term milk. Our results provide novel mechanistic insight on how human milk prevents the development of NEC. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.