Biological effects of goat milk administration in a malnutrition model

AGÜERO GRACIELA; LAZARTE SANDRA; SALVA SUSANA; VILLENA JULIO; GONZÁLEZ SILVIA; ALVAREZ SUSANA

MILCHWISSENSCHAFT-MILK SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL

Verlag/Publisher: AVA Agrar-Verlag Allgän GmbH

Lugar: Kiel, Germany; Año: 2004 vol. 59 p. 266 - 270

0026-3788

The effect of goat milk administration to undernourished BALB/c mice was studied. Body and thymus weight, the level of transferrin and the number of leukocytes and lymphocytes increased after 7days of supplementation. However, the values for these parameters were higher after administration of goat milk than after feeding with cow milk. The number of b-glucuronidase positive cells and a-naphtylbutyrate esterase positive cells (markers for T-cell maturation) had decreased in peripheral blood from malnourished animals and improved after milk addition. Milk supplementation induced an increase in myeloperoxidase activity in peripheral blood neutrophils and respiratory burst activity in peritoneal macrophages. In our experimental model no improvement was observed in IgA levels in samples from intestinal fluid (IF) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). This study demonstrates that goat milk is as efficient as cow milk to improve and normalize parameters affected by protein-energy malnutrition, and that it has an even earlier effect than cow milk.