2. Academic Validation
  3. The human milk component myo-inositol promotes neuronal connectivity

The human milk component myo-inositol promotes neuronal connectivity

  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Jul 25;120(30):e2221413120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2221413120.
Andrew F Paquette 1,  Beatrice E Carbone 2,  Seth Vogel 2,  Erica Israel 3,  Sarah D Maria 4,  Nikita P Patil 3,  Saroj Sah 1,  Dhrubajyoti Chowdhury 1,  Ilona Kondratiuk 1,  Beau Labhart 4,  Ardythe L Morrow 5,  Shay C Phillips 4,  Chenzhong Kuang 6,  Dirk Hondmann 6,  Neeraj Pandey 7,  Thomas Biederer 1 2 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06511.
  • 2 Department of Neuroscience, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02111.
  • 3 United States Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Boston, MA 02111.
  • 4 Global Analytical Sciences, Reckitt/Mead Johnson Nutrition, Evansville, IN 47712.
  • 5 Perinatal Institute, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45229.
  • 6 Global Discovery, Mead Johnson Nutrition, Evansville, IN 47712.
  • 7 Medical and Scientific Affairs, Reckitt, Slough SL1 3UH, United Kingdom.
PMID: 37433002 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2221413120
Abstract

Effects of micronutrients on brain connectivity are incompletely understood. Analyzing human milk samples across global populations, we identified the carbocyclic sugar myo-inositol as a component that promotes brain development. We determined that it is most abundant in human milk during early lactation when neuronal connections rapidly form in the infant brain. Myo-inositol promoted synapse abundance in human excitatory neurons as well as cultured rat neurons and acted in a dose-dependent manner. Mechanistically, myo-inositol enhanced the ability of neurons to respond to transsynaptic interactions that induce synapses. Effects of myo-inositol in the developing brain were tested in mice, and its dietary supplementation enlarged excitatory postsynaptic sites in the maturing cortex. Utilizing an organotypic slice culture system, we additionally determined that myo-inositol is bioactive in mature brain tissue, and treatment of organotypic slices with this carbocyclic sugar increased the number and size of postsynaptic specializations and excitatory synapse density. This study advances our understanding of the impact of human milk on the infant brain and identifies myo-inositol as a breast milk component that promotes the formation of neuronal connections.

Keywords

DHA; brain development; myo-inositol; nutritional neuroscience; synapse formation.

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