Impact of expression mode and timing of sample collection, relative to milk ejection, on human milk bacterial DNA profiles

Aim To investigate the impact of expression mode: electric breast pump or hand expression, and timing sample collection: pre- post-milk ejection on human milk (HM) bacterial DNA profiles. Methods results Three HM samples from same were collected 30 breastfeeding mothers: a pre-milk pump-expressed (pre-pump), (post-pump) hand-expressed (post-hand). Full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to assess Bacterial profiles did not differ significantly based mode nor collection. No significant differences detected in relative abundance any OTUs condition (pre-pump/ post-pump post-pump/post-hand) with univariate linear mixed-effects regression analyses (all P-values > 0·01; ? = 0·01). Similarly, no difference richness observed between types (number OTUs: post-pump/post-hand P 0·13; pre-pump/post-pump 0. 45). Conclusion according either method Significance Impact Study Hand can be utilized collect for microbiome studies. This has implications design future