Acta clinica Croatica, Vol. 65. No. 1, 2026.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20471/acc.2026.65.01.12
Concentrations of Free Sphingosine and Sphinganine in the Breast Milk of Healthy Women and Women with Type 1 Diabetes
Slavica Potočki
; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
*
Ana Mesić
; Polyclinic Artemeda, Zagreb, Croatia
Zrinka Šakić
; Vuk Vrhovac University Clinic for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Merkur University Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia
Armin Atić
; Department of Nephrology, Arterial Hypertension, Dialysis and Transplantation, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Ana Kulić
; Department of Oncology, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Nikolina Bašić Jukić
; Department of Nephrology, Arterial Hypertension, Dialysis and Transplantation, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Sphingoid bases form the backbone of sphingolipids and there are indications
that the sphingolipid metabolism is altered in diseases.
The purpose of this study was to determine the concentrations of free sphin-
gosine (SO) and sphinganine (SA) in the breast milk (BM) of healthy women
and women with type 1 diabetes (T1D) during lactation. After sphingolipid ex-
4
traction, base hydrolysis was performed to obtain free SO and SA, which were
then analyzed by means of high-performance liquid chromatography.
In the BM of healthy women, SO and SA concentrations decrease during lacta-
tion. Concentrations of SO and SA in BM from women with T1D decline until day
7 and rise starting on day 14 of lactation. Both healthy women and women with
T1D showed significant differences in SO and SA concentrations by days of lac-
tation. By comparing the concentrations of free SO in the BM of healthy women
and women with T1D, a statistically significant difference was observed on the
5th and 14th day of lactation. A statistically significant difference was observed
by comparing the concentrations of free SA in the BM of healthy women and
women with T1D on days 14 and 42.
Our study is the first to provide insight into sphingoid base concentration in BM.
Keywords
Sphingosine; Sphinganine; Breast milk; Type 1 diabetes
Hrčak ID:
345841
URI
Publication date:
27.3.2026.
Visits: 256 *