The impact of a biomimetic nipple on infant performance during breast and bottle feeding

市面上有数百种不同的瓶子，但所有的瓶子都被设计成 充满牛奶的水箱，没有导管系统，直接从乳头排入口中。 这个系统在奶牛身上也有，但人类的乳房是由一系列分泌乳汁的导管组成的 来自乳房内的多个腺体。正因为如此，母乳喂养和奶瓶喂养的机制 不同的，婴儿往往挣扎时，介绍给乳房，或相反，拒绝一瓶后， 纯母乳喂养。这项工作的最终目标是测试和验证一个奶瓶奶嘴系统， 一种动物模型，其生理和表现与母乳喂养婴儿的生理和表现相匹配， 目前可用的选项。中心假设是奶嘴系统的设计 泌乳的，如人类和我们的动物模型猪一样，而不是在奶牛中发现的池， 将比目前的奶瓶设计更紧密地匹配母乳喂养期间的婴儿神经生理学。 我们将使用一种公认的和广泛发表的婴儿喂养动物模型猪来测试这一点 通过比较母乳喂养和奶瓶喂养的喂养生理和性能的假设 以池状和管状乳头为食。这些结果将为实施提供基础 仿生奶瓶设计，使成功和最佳的吸吮和吞咽 奶瓶喂养婴儿的生物力学。这将通过两个具体目标来实现：（SA 1）在三个方面 喂养方式，母乳喂养，商业奶瓶/奶嘴，仿生奶嘴，特点是 用细导线双极肌电图研究哺乳和吞咽过程中的神经运动模式和肌肉活动 （SA 2）对于相同的三种模式，建立生物力学机制， 小猪在吮吸和吞咽时用来产生口内压力。两个人工乳头都将 必须是相同的形状，刚度，并有相同的流量，以确保在设计上的唯一差异 导致性能差异的原因在于有无管道。意义 这个项目的潜力在于减少与引入瓶子或乳房相关的问题， 婴儿通过设计一种仿生奶嘴，并提供婴儿用同样的奶瓶喂养， 生物力学的好处。本课题的创新之处在于分析和 验证基于母体乳房解剖结构及其与 婴儿喂养生理学这些结果将改善婴儿的喂养结果， 由于各种产妇和婴儿的病理生理学， 奶瓶/奶嘴系统的优化设计，以提高婴儿喂养。

There are hundreds of varieties of commercially available bottles, yet all of them are designed as a cistern filled with milk, without a system of ducts, emptying directly into the mouth from the nipple. This system is found in cows, but the human breast is comprised of a series of ducts that release milk from multiple glands within the breast. Because of this, the mechanics of breast and bottle feeding differ, and infants often struggle when being introduced to the breast, or conversely, refuse a bottle after exclusive breastfeeding. The ultimate goal of this work is to test and validate a bottle-nipple system in an animal model that matches the physiology and performance of breastfeeding infants better than currently available options. The central hypothesis is that the design of a bottle nipple system that is lactiferous, as is true for humans and our animal model, pigs, rather than cisternic, as is found in cows, will more closely match the infant neurophysiology during breastfeeding than current bottle designs. We will use an accepted and extensively published animal model for infant feeding, pigs, to test this hypothesis by comparing feeding physiology and performance between breastfeeding with bottle feeding on cisternic and ducted nipples. These results will provide a foundation for the implementation of biomimetic bottle designs that will enable successful and optimal sucking and swallowing biomechanics for bottle fed infants. This will be accomplished through two specific aims: (SA1) In three feeding modalities, breastfeeding, commercial bottle/nipple, and biomimetic nipple, characterize the neuromotor pattern and muscle activity during suckling and swallowing using fine wire bipolar EMG in healthy infant pigs; (SA2) For the same three modalities, establish the biomechanical mechanism that infant pigs use to generate intraoral pressure during sucking and swallowing. Both artificial nipples will be the same shape, stiffness, and have the same flow rates, to ensure that the only difference in design that would lead to differences in performance lies in the presence or absence of a duct. The significance of this project lies in the potential to decrease problems associated with introducing bottles or breasts to infants through the design of a biomimetic nipple, and provide infants fed on bottles with the same biomechanical benefits as those fed on the breast. The innovation of this project is the analysis and validation of a biomimetic feeding system based on maternal breast anatomy and its interaction with infant feeding physiology. These results will improve feeding outcomes for infants which currently must be fed on bottles due to various maternal and infant pathophysiologies and take a step towards the optimal design of a bottle/nipple system to enhance infant feeding.