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Potential uses of milk epithelial cells: a review
Marion Boutinaud1, Hélène Jammes
1Biologie Cellulaire et Moléculaire, INRA, Jouy-en-Josas, France. boutinau@jouy.inra.fr
Insights
Mammary gland secretions contain diverse cells, including epithelial cells, which are valuable for studying lactation, immunity, and diseases. Milk cells offer a source for molecular research on mammary gland gene expression.
Area of Science:
- Veterinary Medicine
- Cell Biology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Mammary secretions contain diverse cell populations (lymphocytes, neutrophils, macrophages, epithelial cells).
- Somatic cell count and cell type distribution in milk are influenced by species, infection, physiological state, and management.
- Epithelial cells shed during lactation are viable and represent differentiated alveolar cells.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the utility of mammary secretions, particularly epithelial cells, as a model system.
- To emphasize the potential of milk cells for molecular studies of mammary gland function and disease.
Main Methods:
- Primary culture of epithelial cells from human, baboon, cow, and goat milk/colostrum.
- Utilization of established human and goat milk-derived cell lines.
- RNA extraction from milk cells for gene expression analysis.
Main Results:
- Mammary epithelial cells from various species provide a suitable model for studying lactogenesis, immunity, cancer, and viral infections.
- RNA from milk cells accurately reflects mammary gland gene expression.
- Milk cells serve as a valuable source for molecular studies.
Conclusions:
- Mammary secretions offer a non-invasive source of cells and RNA for diverse research applications.
- Milk-derived cell models are effective for investigating mammary gland physiology and pathology.
- Molecular analysis of milk cells facilitates understanding of gene expression and environmental interactions in the mammary gland.
Abstract:
Secretions collected from the mammary gland of different species contain heterogeneous populations of cells including lymphocytes, neutrophils, macrophages and epithelial cells in different species. Several factors influence the somatic cell count in milk and the distribution of cell types, such as species, infection status, physiological status and management practices. The epithelial cells are shed into milk during the lactation process. Most of them are viable and exhibit the characteristics of fully differentiated alveolar cells. Primary cultures of epithelial cells from colostrum and milk of humans, baboons, cows and goats together with established cell lines from human and goat milk, provide a good model for the study of lactogenesis, immunity transmission, cancer research and infection by viruses. The RNA extracted from milk cells have been shown to be representative of gene expression in the mammary gland and thus provide a source of material for molecular studies of gene expression and environmental interactions.