HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bitman, J. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Bitman, J.

Determinations of Lactose in Mammary Gland and in Milk

Hormone Physiology, Animal Husbandry Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland

ABSTRACT

Analyses of the mammary gland are complicated by the presence of varying amounts of milk retained in the tissue. The determination of lactose has been widely used to provide an estimate of the amount of milk present and to thereby correct for this contamination (1–5). Nonspecific carbohydrate methods are adequate for normal milk samples where lactose is the only carbohydrate present in more than trace amounts, but overestimation of lactose has been encountered in determinations of the lactose content of mammary gland samples (4, 5). In mastitic milk, moreover, the glycogen concentration increases and might contribute to the lactose determination. In tissue samples, pentoses present as the result of nucleic acid hydrolysis may also contribute to the apparent lactose content. A chromatographic method for the separation of monosaccharides from larger molecular weight carbohydrates (6) was, therefore, adapted to the analysis of lactose. The method was studied using ribose as an example of a monosaccharide, the disaccharide, lactose, and glycogen as representative of a polysaccharide.