Effect of Lactobacillus casei CRL 431 and its fermented milk on the intestinal and systemic immune response in an experimental model of obesity in BALB/c mice

I. NOVOTNY NUÑEZ; C. MALDONADO GALDEANO; A. DE MORENO DE LEBLANC; G. PERDIGON

Vancouver

Congreso; 16th International Congress of Mucosal Immunology (ICMI 2013); 2013

Society for Mucosal Immunology

Obesity is a chronic inflammatory state with adipose tissue hypertrophy. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of L. casei CRL 431 (Lc) and its fermented milk (FM) in an experimental model of obesity. Mice received standard diet (G1) or high fat diet (G2), and were given milk (M), FM, Lc or water (W) for 3 months. We studied histology of liver and small intestine (SI), N° of IgA+ and F4/80+ cells in SI, NKT cells in liver, phagocytic activity (FA) of spleen macrophages (SM) and peritoneum (PM); the systemic immunity, determining anti-OVA-specific IgG in serum by ELISA and Salmonella translocation in organs in a model of infection was evaluated. Liver steatosis was observed in G2W and G2M, reversed by G2FM and G2Lc. The villi of SI in G2W were shorter than in G1, G2FM and G2Lc reversed these changes. IgA+ and F4/80+ cells in SI decreased in G2W compared to G1 and only FM increased these values. NKT cells in liver increased in G2FM compared to the rest of the assays groups. The administration of FM or Lc increased the FA of SM and PM prior to immunization, only Lc remained this effect in SM post-inoculation. G2W decreased the FA of PM post-inoculation, reversed by the 3 diets. The dietary supplementation did not alter the systemic response, compared to the respective controls. Salmonella translocation to organs not showed differences in any of the studied groups. FM or Lc administration to obese mice improved histological alterations in liver and SI stimulating IgA and F4/80 production in SI, the number of NKT cells in liver, the FA of SM and PM, but was not effective in enhancing the anti-OVA response or protection against Salmonella, even when the intestinal immunity was improved.