EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF HYPOCALORIC MAL-NUTRITION IN MOUSE FOR A RENUTRITION DIET WITH PROBIOTICS.

GAUFFIN CANO, PAOLA; CHAILA, Z; GONZALEZ, S; P. DE RUIZ HOLGADO, AÍDA

Simposio; 19th INTERNATIONAL ICFMH SYMPOSIUM, FOOD MICRO 2004.; 2004

EXPERIMENTAL MODEL OF HYPOCALORIC MALNUTRITION IN MOUSE FOR A RENUTRITION DIET WITH PROBIOTICS Gauffin Cano, Paola1; Chaila, Zulema2; González, Silvia1 y P. de Ruiz Holgado, Aída1 1 Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos (CERELA)-Chacabuco 145-Tucumán (4000)-Argentina- 2 Fundación ALAC (Asociación de Laboratorios Programa de Normas y  de Alta Complejidad ). E-mail: pgauffin@cerela.org.ar In front of a deficit contribution of nutritients, the organism, human or animal, respond with a series of adaptive mechanisms with the purpose of conserving the tissues. When the malnutrition is light, it can be arrived to a balance between contributions and demands with minimum alterations for that the signs and symptoms are subclinic. Objective: To establish a hypocaloric malnutrition model and to characterize the early biochemical and hematological alterations related with the age and the sex. The identification of early signals caused by the malnutrition would allow us to study the effects of probiotics in these alterations and to select an appropriate renutrition diet. Materials and methods: we used albino Swiss mice of 3 weeks (Recently weaned) and of 9 weeks (Adults), males and females. The animals were undernourished for restriction (25% of the daily portion) of the balanced diet by 12 days. The animals were sacrificed at 0, 4, 8 and 12 days during the malnutrition diet. It was determined: 1) body weight; 2) thymus, spleen and liver weight; 3) in serum it was analyzed: a- glucose, b- cholesterol, c- triglycerides (enzymatic Methods, Bayer Be-PAK bonus); d- proteins and e- albumin (Method colorimetric, Wiener). 4) In blood we studied: a- white globules, b- red globules, c- hematocrit, d- hemoglobin concentration. Results: 1) With the malnutrition diet the mice lost 10-25% of the body weight regarding the well-nourished control, reaching malnutrition of 1º grade. 2) The thymus and spleen weight decrease with the malnutrition diet, and the liver weight did not modify. 3) The 12 days of malnutrition induced in the 4 groups a significant descent of glucose and there was not observed significant alterations of the other carried out determinations. In the group of undernourished mice we observe influence of the age, since in the mature animals the descent of glucose was bigger. 4) The malnutrition induced a significant descent of the number of white globules, and this fact was very marked in the group of mature mice. Influence of the sex was not observed in none of the parameters studied. Conclusions: The importance of a precocious detection of the malnutrition resides in the possibility of carrying out an opportune and effective nutritional intervention. The determination of serum parameters (like glucose and triglycerides) and white globules, allow us to analyze the nutritional state of an individual regarding reference values of a normal population. Key words: malnutrition, precocious diagnosis, renutrition, probiotics References GAUFFIN CANO, P, AGÜERO, G AND PERDIGÓN, G (2002) Immunologic effects of yogurt addition to a re-nutrition diet in a malnutrition experimental model. J. Dairy Research 69, 303-316. ROUX, ME; SLOBODIANIK, NH; GAUFFIN CANO, P; AND PERDIGÓN, G. (2002) Mucosal immune system and malnutrition. In: Gut flora, Nutrition, Immunity and Health. Fuller R and Perdigón G (Eds). Blackwell Publishing, Oxford chapter 7 (155-177).