As soon as a baby opens its eyes to the world, it is attacked by a variety of harmful germs and is helped by the mother's natural antibodies.
According to experts, here also the mother's great gift in the form of 'super antibodies' supports the child. According to a report published in the weekly journal Nature, the mother's natural defense system in the early days helps the baby and protects it from many diseases.
Although vaccines given to children can also cause the disease in newborns, super antibodies from the mother may be the most effective. Dr. Sing Singway, of Cincinnati Children's Hospital, believes that pregnancy changes the structure and properties of several sugars that bind to antibodies. In this way, the newborn baby is protected from many types of germs.
This process starts when the child is in the womb and understanding it will pave the way for the treatment of the infection caused by the mother and the child. This research may extend to antibody therapy and other fields.
But the question is, where do mothers get super antibodies from?
One answer is that when the mother is expecting, the structure of a type of sugar on the antibody, 'sialic acid', changes. Now with this change the condition of immune cells changes and they are ready to fight against all kinds of germs. That is, this sugar can be called a super antibody switch.
Scientists have discovered the same system in pregnant and non-pregnant mice. However, according to scientists, more research is going on.