Human milk is a complex, dynamically changing biological fluid, which contains a large amount of non-conjugated carbohydrates, referred to as human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). These HMOs are very important for the infants as they play important roles in the formation of the gut microbiome, the immune system and support brain development. HMOs show highly complex structural diversity due to numerous linkage possibilities of the building monosaccharides. In order to elucidate their structure–function relationship and to develop more effective infant formulas, cutting-edge analytical technologies are in great demand. In this paper, we review the current strategies for HMO analysis based on liquid phase separation methods. High performance liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis and their hyphenation with mass spectrometry are critically reviewed, emphasizing their advantages and disadvantages from practical point of views. Recent advances of the methods are categorized according to their application fields.

人乳是一种复杂的，动态变化的生物流体，其中包含大量的非共轭碳水化合物，称为人乳寡糖（HMO）。这些HMO对婴儿非常重要，因为它们在肠道微生物组的形成，免疫系统和支持大脑发育中起重要作用。HMO由于建筑单糖的多种连接可能性而显示出高度复杂的结构多样性。为了阐明它们的结构-功能关系并开发更有效的婴儿配方食品，迫切需要尖端的分析技术。在本文中，我们回顾了当前基于液相分离方法进行HMO分析的策略。高效液相色谱，对毛细管电泳及其在质谱联用中的应用进行了严格审查，从实用的角度强调了它们的优缺点。该方法的最新进展根据其应用领域进行分类。