title: The tammar wallaby: A marsupial model to examine the timed delivery and role of bioactives in milk.
abstract: It is now clear that milk has multiple functions; it provides the most appropriate nutrition for growth of the newborn, it delivers a range of bioactives with the potential to stimulate development of the young, it has the capacity to remodel the mammary gland (stimulate growth or signal cell death) and finally milk can provide protection from infection and inflammation when the mammary gland is susceptible to these challenges. There is increasing evidence to support studies using an Australian marsupial, the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii), as an interesting and unique model to study milk bioactives. Reproduction in the tammar wallaby is characterized by a short gestation, birth of immature young and a long lactation. All the major milk constituents change substantially and progressively during lactation and these changes have been shown to regulate growth and development of the tammar pouch young and to have roles in mammary gland biology. This review will focus on recent reports examining the control of lactation in the tammar wallaby and the timed delivery of milk bioactivity.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong 3216, Australia; Cancer Program, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: julie.sharp@deakin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Sharp
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong 3216, Australia; Institute for Agriculture and the Environment, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD 4350, Australia.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wanyonyi
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong 3216, Australia.
authors.forename: Vengama
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Modepalli
authors.affiliation: Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong 3216, Australia.
authors.forename: Ashalyn
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Watt
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong 3216, Australia.
authors.forename: Sanjana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuruppath
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
authors.forename: Lyn A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Hinds
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong 3216, Australia; PeterMac Callum Cancer Research Institute, East Melbourne 3002, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Cancer Program, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Helen E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Abud
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong 3216, Australia; Division of Bioinformatics, Walter and Eliza Hall Medical Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia; PeterMac Callum Cancer Research Institute, East Melbourne 3002, Victoria, Australia; Department of Medical Biology (WEHI), The University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lefevre
authors.affiliation: Cancer Program, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Kevin R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Nicholas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D007774:Lactation / Q000502:physiology*; D007614:Macropodidae / Q000502:physiology*; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*
keywords: Lactation; Mammary gland; Marsupial; Milk; Monotreme