Probiotic fermented milk as mucosal and systemic adjuvant in malnutrition

C. MALDONADO GALDEANO; I. NOVOTNY NUÑEZ; A. DE MORENO DE LEBLANC; E. CARMUEGA; R. WEILL; G. PERDIGON

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Congreso; 14th International Congress of mucosal immunology; 2009

Background: In protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) there is a significant impairment of the immunological response. We evaluated the adjuvant effect of probiotic fermented milk (PFM) in a PEM non-severe experimental model on the local and systemic-immunity, to demonstrate its effectiveness in risk groups to reinforce the vaccine effect. Methods: mice were divided in 4 groups. G1 normal control with balanced food ad-libitum and water. G2 control PEM with restriction of 25% of food. G3 after PEM continued with restriction diet plus milk. G4: after PEM continued with restriction diet plus PFM during 5 days. After re-nutrition period studied thymus and small intestine (SI) histology, nº of IgA+, cytokine+ and T cells. For systemic-immunity after of re-nutrition animals were immunized with ovoalbumin. Specific-IgG-anti-ovo in serum by ELISA was determined. Results: The thymus and SI histology was altered in G2. G4 showed a histological improvement in both tissues. IgA+ cells also increased significantly in G4. Significant increase of specific-IgG-anti-ovo in serum of mice re-nourished with PFM prior-immunization was observed. Conclusions: PFM had better adjuvant effect than milk in the recovery histological and immune parameters as well as on systemic-immunity with an increased in specific-IgG-anti-ovo showing it effectiveness in sub-nourished groups previous to vaccination.