Someone (I'm sorry I don't remember who as I read it quickly before work
today) asked how long it would take for antibodies to show up in colostrum.  This
question doesn't have an easy answer.

If the antigen (foreign substance, virus, bacteria, etc.) has never been
encountered by the mother then the more general first response will be by IgM.
The B-lymphocytes will be activated by the antigen and then mature, changing
into plasma cells which will then migrate to the sites of the mucosal immune
system.  We know that in the breast these cells sit next to the milk epithelial
cells and produce the antibodies which are actively transported into the
epithelial cell and ending up in the milk.  During the colostral phase when there are
not tight gaps between the cells one would think that some antibodies might
enter that way as well. But without the journey through the cell the antibody
won't have the secretory component that prevents breaking down by digestive
enzymes.

 Specific memory cells - B lymphcytes will be formed to react to a second
exposure to this particular antigen and will be more specific and faster. If the
mother has had exposure to the germ previously, then the IgA will be able to
appear faster.  I found two websites that explain things well, and one has
graphs that show time in days.  If you click on the graph it will enlarge.
http://www.cs.unm.edu/~immsec/html-imm/introduction.html  If you click on
Immune memory you can find the graphs at this site. It looks like it takes 10
days.  Remember that the immune sytem is reacting to the intitial exposure to the
antigen and that symptoms of illness might not show up until later -- for
example, symptoms appearing after the two week incubation period of chicken pox.
http://www.cat.cc.md.us/courses/bio141/lecguide/unit3/  This site also has in
depth explanations of 'the adaptive immune system"  This site says it takes
'several days'  for the adpative immune system to become protective. I actually
e-mailed this fellow and here is his reply: "I'm afraid I don't know the
exact answer. In a primary antibody response, the primary response to a new
antigen generally peaks at 5 - 10 days. I would suspect that typically antibodies
would appear within a week."

Mardrey Swenson DC, IBCLC

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