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Rapid changes in Atlantic grey seal milk from birth to weaning – immune factors and indicators of metabolic strain

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Date
23/11/2017
Author
Lowe, Amanda D.
Bawazeer, Sami
Watson, David G.
McGill, Suzanne
Burchmore, Richard J.S.
Pomeroy, Patrick
Kennedy, Malcolm W.
Funder
NERC
Grant ID
Agreement R8-H12-86
Keywords
QH301 Biology
QP Physiology
DAS
NERC
Metadata
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Abstract
True seals have the shortest lactation periods of any group of placental mammal. Most are capital breeders that undergo short, intense lactations, during which they fast while transferring substantial proportions of their body reserves to their pups, which they then abruptly wean. Milk was collected from Atlantic grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) periodically from birth until near weaning. Milk protein profiles matured within 24 hours or less, indicating the most rapid transition from colostrum to mature phase lactation yet observed. There was an unexpected persistence of immunoglobulin G almost until weaning, potentially indicating prolonged trans-intestinal transfer of IgG. Among components of innate immune protection were found fucosyllactose and siallylactose that are thought to impede colonisation by pathogens and encourage an appropriate milk-digestive and protective gut microbiome. These oligosaccharides decreased from early lactation to almost undetectable levels by weaning. Taurine levels were initially high, then fell, possibly indicative of taurine dependency in seals, and progressive depletion of maternal reserves. Metabolites that signal changes in the mother’s metabolism of fats, such as nicotinamide and derivatives, rose from virtual absence, and acetylcarnitines fell. It is therefore possible that indicators of maternal metabolic strain exist that signal the imminence of weaning.
Citation
Lowe , A D , Bawazeer , S , Watson , D G , McGill , S , Burchmore , R J S , Pomeroy , P & Kennedy , M W 2017 , ' Rapid changes in Atlantic grey seal milk from birth to weaning – immune factors and indicators of metabolic strain ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 7 , 16093 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-16187-7
Publication
Scientific Reports
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-16187-7
ISSN
2045-2322
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright the Authors 2017. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12157

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