Influence of yogurt consumption on immune response to Streptococcus pneumoniae infection

RACEDO SILVIA; VILLENA JULIO; AGÜERO GRACIELA; ALVAREZ SUSANA

Tafí del Valle-Tucumán-Argentina

Jornada; XXII Jornadas de la Asociación de Biología de Tucumán; 2005

Asociación de Biología de Tucumán

Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp) may result in asympto- matic carriage, mucosal or invasive disease. Recent studies have given support that yogurt consumption may indeed be beneficial to health and it has been suggested that it may increase pathogen cleareance and reduce lung injury. The aim of this work was to examine the influence of yogurt consumption on local immune response of mice infected with Sp. Conventional balance diet  of swiss-albine adult mice was supplemented for 5 consecutive days with yogurt (5dy).The local immune response was evaluated before and after challenged with Sp (106 CFU ml-1mouse-1) during 15 days postinfection (dpi): Total and differential blood (B) and broncho alveolar (BAL) leukocyte counts; Mieloperoxidase (MPO) activity in B and lung homogenate (LH); % of Nitro blue tetrazolium (NBT)+ phagocityc cells from BAL and IgA+ producing cells in BALT (bronchus associate lymphoid tissue) by IF. The 5dy group showed increase of the number of BAL leucocytes at 1dpi. (p