Did not know if someone posted this previously.
Judy Ritchie

http://news.bmn.com/magazine/researchupdate?uid=UPDATE.Michie2803200375

Antibody production in early life supported by maternal lymphocyte
factors
Shimamura M. et al.
Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)/Molecular Basis of Disease 2003
1637(1):55-58
MEDLINE   Full Text

28 March 2003

Commentary by Colin Michie [log in to unmask] 

The ability of mammalian newborns to respond to infection is critical as
this is the period of greatest morbidity and mortality from infections.
Maternal IgG antibody moves across the placenta and IgA is present in
milk, but all de novo antibody production by the young is typically
slower than in older members of the species. Work with babies
demonstrated many years ago that those who were breast-fed made more
effective and rapid antibody responses to vaccination. A recent study
has taken this observation further, by examining the effects of feeding
mouse pups from mothers with reduced lymphocyte numbers. 
 
Litters fed from Rag -/- mothers, who have very few circulating or milk
lymphocytes, made lower levels of antibody when compared with those fed
from Rag +/+ mothers. Those with Rag +/- mothers showed similar
responses to Rag +/+ pups. By exchanging mothers, the antibody responses
in the pups could be altered. This observation suggests that milk
lymphocytes are indeed a significant component to the neonatal murine
immune system. It is not clear whether it is the lymphocytes themselves,
or factors they produce, which are necessary, or at which cellular or
molecular level the mechanism operates for this adjuvant-like activity.
The observation may well link with that made in babies who have been
shown to have significantly larger thymus glands if breast-fed.
 
The Rag mouse model allows other questions to be asked of milk
production, the development of mastitis, and therefore milk quality and
quantity. Such questions are important in agricultural situations where
inflammatory changes are well known to reduce the milk output of
domesticated animals. The term 'Rag' is relevant here, not as an eponym
for 'Rapid activating gene' but as part of a name, 'Round Oak Rag Apple
Elevation', a Holstein cow, had triplets, 26 sisters and 4215 three
quarter sisters as a consequence of assisted reproductive technology
(VanRaden (1997) J Dairy Sci 75). The lactation records of all these
animals have been followed for three generations. This extensive
database is beginning to allow careful genetic analysis of milk
immunology; it too demonstrates the significance of maternal genetic
factors to milk quality and the outcome of the calf consuming that milk.
 
Such data give a prospect to augmenting existing milks. Might milks be
adjusted for the premature so as to enhance antibody responses in those
whose trans-placental antibody levels are low? Might these factors allow
improvement of the routine vaccination programmes, designed around the
poor antibody responses of the infant human? Such prospects offer
advantages to those working locally in neonatal nurseries or on a wider
scale in public health.

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