Novel DRAQ5™/SYTOX® Blue Based Flow Cytometric Strategy to Identify and Characterize Stem Cells in Human Breast Milk.

Background: Human breast milk could be an important stem cell source for the development of newborn and preterm infants, but quantitative data on the stem cell content in breast milk at various gestational stages are needed to determine the clinical value of breast milk as a source of stem cells. Breast milk also contains milk fat globules, lipid droplets of different sizes, debris and dead cells and these components hamper flow cytometry analysis of human breast milk samples.

Methods: Here, we originally used standard protocols for flow cytometry to characterize cell populations in human breast milk but failed to discriminate between cells and noncellular components.