ArticleGut2012
The human milk oligosaccharide disialyllacto-N-tetraose prevents necrotising enterocolitis in neonatal rats.
Article in Gut, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 174 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
174 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 365 citations in OpenAlex.
- Enteral Feeding Interventions in the Prevention of Necrotizing Enterocolitis: A Systematic Review of Experimental and Clinical Studies.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Oral immunoglobulin for preventing necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm and low birth weight neonates.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Human milk oligosaccharides and their association with late-onset neonatal sepsis in Peruvian very-low-birth-weight infants.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Human colostrum oligosaccharides modulate major immunologic pathways of immature human intestine.Mucosal immunology · 2014Trial
- Human milk oligosaccharide concentration and risk of postnatal transmission of HIV through breastfeeding.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2012Trial
- Decoding the HMO‒microbiome axis: bridging maternal milk to infant health outcomes.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Varied human milk oligosaccharides in human milk from mothers treated with antidepressants and anti-inflammatories.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Short-term modulation of human milk oligosaccharides in plasma and milk by glucose and insulin: insights into postpartum metabolic regulation.Diabetologia · 2026Article
- Shaping of the Infant Gut Microbiome by Milk Oligosaccharides.Annual review of biochemistry · 2026Review
- The role of human milk oligosaccharides in shaping and restoring infant gut microbiota: population-based cohort study.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Article
- Total Chemical Synthesis of the Human Milk Oligosaccharide Disialyllacto-Organic letters · 2026Article
- Bioactive-Supplemented Infant Formulas and Early Gut-Immune-Endocrine Development: A Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Synthesis of sialylated human milk oligosaccharides by automated glycan assembly.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Secretor status-dependent modulation ofFrontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Human milk oligosaccharide metabolism and antibiotic resistance in early gut colonizers: insights from bifidobacteria and lactobacilli in the maternal-infant microbiome.Gut microbes · 2025Article
- Protecting the enteric brain (nervous system) in preterm infants: human milk oligosaccharides to the rescue.Pediatric research · 2025Article
- Consequences of host-microbiome interactions in preterm infants.Infection and immunity · 2025Review
- Microbes Matter: Exploring the Connection Between Infant Gut Microbiota and Bone Development.Calcified tissue international · 2025Article
- Article
114 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNecrotising enterocolitis (NEC) is one of the most common and fatal intestinal disorders in preterm infants. Breast-fed infants are at lower risk for NEC than formula-fed infants, but the protective components in human milk have not been identified. In contrast to formula, human milk contains high amounts of complex glycans.
objectiveTo test the hypothesis that human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) contribute to the protection from NEC.
methodsSince human intervention studies are unfeasible due to limited availability of HMO, a neonatal rat NEC model was used. Pups were orally gavaged with formula without and with HMO and exposed to hypoxia episodes. Ileum sections were scored blindly for signs of NEC. Two-dimensional chromatography was used to determine the most effective HMO, and sequential exoglycosidase digestions and linkage analysis was used to determine its structure.
resultsCompared to formula alone, pooled HMO significantly improved 96-hour survival from 73.1% to 95.0% and reduced pathology scores from 1.98 ± 1.11 to 0.44 ± 0.30 (p<0.001). Within the pooled HMO, a specific isomer of disialyllacto-N-tetraose (DSLNT) was identified to be protective. Galacto-oligosaccharides, currently added to formula to mimic some of the effects of HMO, had no effect.
conclusionHMO reduce NEC in neonatal rats and the effects are highly structure specific. If these results translate to NEC in humans, DSLNT could be used to prevent or treat NEC in formula-fed infants, and its concentration in the mother's milk could serve as a biomarker to identify breast-fed infants at risk of developing this disorder.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.