Impact of a probiotic fermented milk in the gut ecosystem and in the systemic immunity using a non-sever protein-energy-malnutrition model in mice

MALDONADO GALDEANO, CAROLINA; NOVOTNY NUÑEZ IVANNA; DE MORENO DE LEBLANC, ALEJANDRA; CARMUEGA, ESTEBAN; WEILL, RICARDO; PERDIGÓN, GABRIELA

BMC GASTROENTEROLOGY

BIOMED CENTRAL LTD

Lugar: London; Año: 2011 vol. 11 p. 1 - 14

1471-230X

. It is known that the state of malnutrition can affect the immune response, causing decrease of defense mechanisms and making the host more susceptible to infections. On the other hand, the probiotics can reconstitute the intestinal mucosa and stimulate local and systemic immune response. The aim of this work was evaluate the effects of a probiotic fermented milk as a complement of a re-nutrition diet, on the recovery of the intestinal barrier, histological alterations and mucosal and systemic immune functions in a model of non-severe protein-energy-malnutrition in mouse. Methods. Mice were undernourished and then divided in 3 groups according to the dietary supplement received during re-nutrition (milk, probiotic fermented milk or its bacterial free supernatant) and compared to the well-nourished and malnourished mice. They were sacrificed previous to the re-nutrition and 5 days post re-nutrition. It was evaluated the phagocytic activity of macrophages from spleen and peritoneum and the changes in the intestinal histology and microbiota. Different immune cell populations and the production of various cytokines were analyzed in the lamina propria of the small intestine. The effect of the different re-nutrition supplements on the systemic immunity and against an infection with Salmonella enteritidis serovar Typhimurium was also studied. Results. The present work showed that in the non-severe protein-energy-malnutrition, probiotic fermented milk was the re-nutrition diet more effective to improve the intestinal microbiota, increase the number and function of certain immune cells, especially from the innate immune response maintaining the intestinal homeostasis. This re-nutrition diet also stimulated the systemic immune response which was diminished after malnutrition period and improved the host response against an intestinal infection with Salmonella enteritidis serovar Typhimurium. Conclusions. Probiotic fermented milk could be useful to improve the gut immune system in an immunodeficiency model by malnutrition with the prevention of the Salmonella infection in mice that received this supplement as a re-nutrition diet. The importance of the metabolites released during milk fermentation was also demonstrated through the analysis of the bacterial free supernatant obtained from the probiotic fermented milk where the whole product showed the best effect on all the parameters studied.