Inhibition of enterotoxin from Escherichia coli and Vibrio cholerae by gangliosides from human milk.

Inhibitory activity of enterotoxin from Escherichia coli and Vibrio cholerae was associated with the ganglioside fraction of human milk. Both the milk fat and skim milk contained gangliosides that inhibited the toxins. The most purified milk fraction contained three glycolipid components, of which two migrated close to ganglioside GM1 on thin-layer chromatography plates. A component with a slightly different mobility from GM1 appeared to be associated with the inhibitory activity. Milk ganglioside fraction, derived from 2 ml of human milk, contained 1 to 4 micrograms of lipid-bound sialic acid and completely inhibited 0.1 micrograms of cholera toxin in rabbit intestinal loop experiments. It is suggested that human milk gangliosides, although present only in trace amounts, may be important in protecting infants against enterotoxin-induced diarrhea.