Maternal Medication Use and the Risk to Breastfed Infants: A Focus on Active Efflux Transporters and Changes in Expression During the Course of Lactation

Abstract

This thesis has highlighted the role of BCRP as a potential significant mediator of drug movement from mother to baby through breastmilk. However, it was also shown that only epithelial cells collected from breastmilk represent expression of efflux proteins but the same cells propagated in culture lose their in-vivo characteristics. The need for better lactation related medication safety data and pharmacovigilance was also highlighted as infant ADRs attributed to breastfeeding were shown to be underreported.