Presence of leptin in colostrum and/or breast milk from lactating mothers: a potential role in the regulation of neonatal food intake.

In neonates both nutrients and regulatory factors are transferred from the mother to the suckling infant via milk. In the present work, it has been shown that human milk contains immunoreactive leptin which is identical to intact human leptin by criteria of charge, size, immunorecognition and SDS-PAGE mobility. In experimental animals it was demonstrated that leptin is transferred from the circulation to mothers' milk, then to the infant's stomach and afterwards to infant blood. Maternal leptin in milk may play a regulatory role in the suckling infant.