The Effect of Different Storage Condition on Leukocytes in Human Breast Milk

Objectives: Breast milk is the best baby food because it contains a complete nutritional composition and contains important factors for the baby's immune system, including leukocytes. Store breast milk to guarantee the baby receives it while the mother works. This study aims to determine the effect of morphology, number cells and the population of breast milk leukocytes on various ways of storing breast milk based on differences in temperature and storage duration. Methods: We used transitional breast milk samples from 7 breastfeeding mothers. A total of 50 ml was then divided into 4 tubes of 12.5 ml each and treated based on temperature, storage time, and method of thawing frozen breast milk based on the recommendations of the CDC for breast milk storage. Then the breast milk cells were isolated to calculate the cell number and leukocyte population. After that, breast milk cells were stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin (HE) to analyze the number and morphology of leukocytes. Results: The results showed a significant decrease in the total number, population in breast milk. Besides that, there were also changes in the morphology of breast milk leukocytes after storage. Conclusion: This study indicate that CDC storage recommendations have no effect on the quantity of the CD45+ leukocyte population; though, there is a decreased the total number of leukocytes as well as alterations in their microscopic morphology. However, additional research is still required to determine whether these modifications also influence the function of these cells. Keywords: Breast milk; leukocytes; storage; population; morphology.