Note: When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher.
Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
What is a DOI Number?
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.
-
more » « less
Scope The use of human milk products is increasing for high‐risk infants. Human milk contains endogenous enzymes that comprise a dynamic proteolytic system, yet biological properties of these enzymes and their activities in response to variations including pH within infants are unclear. Human milk has a neutral pH around 7, while infant gastric pH varies from 2 to 6 depending on individual conditions. This study is designed to determine the specificity of enzyme–substrate interactions in human milk as a function of pH.
Methods and results Endogenous proteolysis is characterized by incubating freshly expressed human milk at physiologically relevant pH ranging from 2 to 7 without the addition of exogenous enzymes. Results show that the effects of pH on endogenous proteolysis in human milk are protein‐specific. Further, specific interactions between cathepsin D and α‐lactalbumin are confirmed. The endogenous enzyme cathepsin D in human milk cleaves α‐lactalbumin as the milk pH shifts from 7 to 3.
Conclusions This study documents that selective proteolysis activated by pH shift is a mechanism for dynamic interactions between human milk and the infant. Controlled proteolysis can guide the use of human milk products based on individual circumstance.
-
The ratio of the electric to magnetic form factors of the proton, μpGEp/GMp, has been measured for elastic electron-proton scattering with polarized beam and target up to four-momentum transfer squared Q2=5.66(GeV/c)2 using double spin asymmetry for target spin orientation aligned nearly perpendicular to the beam momentum direction. This measurement of μpGEp/GMp agrees with the Q2 dependence of previous recoil polarization data and reconfirms the discrepancy at high Q2 between the Rosenbluth and the polarization-transfer method with a different measurement technique and systematic uncertainties uncorrelated to those of the recoil-polarization measurements. The form factor ratio at Q2=2.06(GeV/c)2 has been measured as μpGEp/GMp=0.720±0.176stat±0.039sys, which is in agreement with an earlier measurement using the polarized target technique at similar kinematics. The form factor ratio at Q2=5.66(GeV/c)2 has been determined as μpGEp/GMp=0.244±0.353stat±0.013sys, which represents the highest Q2 measurement reached using double spin asymmetries with polarized target to date.more » « less
Full Text Available