Analytical characterization of human milk oligosaccharides - potential applications in pharmaceutical analysis

Due to their structural diversity and abundance, HMOs possess many beneficial biological functions. In order to understand human milk composition and HMO functions, state-of-the-art glycomic methods are inevitable. The industrial, large scale chemoenzymatic production of the most abundant HMOs became a reality in the last years and it evokes the need for straightforward and genuine analytical procedures to monitor the synthetic process and the quality of the products. It is obvious, that HMOs represent the next breakthrough in infant nutrition, as the addition of HMOs (such as 2′-fucosyllactose or lacto-N-neotetraose) to infant- and follow-on formulas, processed cereal-based food and baby foods for infants and young children etc. will revolutionize this field. This review highlights the potential applications of HMOs in the (bio)pharmaceutical industry, also summarizes the analytical methods available for the characterization of HMOs. An overview of the structure and function of HMOs along with their determination methods in complex matrices are provided. Various separation methods including liquid- and gas chromatography and capillary electrophoresis for the characterization and novel approaches for the quantitation of HMOs are discussed.