Maternal breast milk odour induces frontal lobe activation in neonates: a NIRS study.
We used near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to examine differences in neonates' orbito-frontal cortical activation in response to the odours of maternal breast milk and formula milk in terms of changes in the oxygenation of cerebral blood flow. Twenty-six healthy neonates were tested in their cribs while they slept in a silent room. The neonates were exposed to each olfactory stimulus by an experimenter. NIRS monitoring was performed using optodes placed above the bilateral anterior orbito-frontal gyri. The differences in oxygenated haemoglobin (oxy-Hb) values between baseline and stimulation were defined as the change in oxy-Hb. The degrees of change were calculated by an analysis of variance (ANOVA). A 2 (stimulus: breast milk and formula milk) × 2 (probe location: right and left) ANOVA showed that the odour of maternal breast milk (right/left: M=0.28/0.48) induced a significantly (F=6.36, p<0.05) greater increase in the oxygenated blood of the orbito-frontal region than did the odour of formula milk (right/left: M=-0.03/-0.07). Differences in the intensity of odour had no significant influence on the blood oxygenation of the orbito-frontal region. Maternal breast milk odour increased oxygenated blood flow in the orbito-frontal region to a greater extent than did formula milk odour. These results suggest that neonates can distinguish between the odours of maternal breast milk versus formula.
Aoyama
Shiori
S
Department of Pediatrics, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima, Japan. shiori@setoyama.org
Toshima
Tamotsu
T
Saito
Yuri
Y
Konishi
Nakao
N
Motoshige
Kyoko
K
Ishikawa
Nobutsune
N
Nakamura
Kazuhiro
K
Kobayashi
Masao
M
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000737:chemistry*; D009812:Odorants; D010108:Oxyhemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
D010108:Oxyhemoglobins