ovalbumin and Birth-Weight

Prenatal and early childhood exposures are implicated as causes of allergy, but the effects of intrauterine growth restriction on immune function and allergy are poorly defined. We therefore evaluated effects of experimental restriction of fetal growth on immune function and allergic sensitization in adolescent sheep. Immune function (circulating total red and white blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, and basophils, and the antibody response to Clostridial vaccination) and responses to house dust mite (HDM) allergen and ovalbumin (OVA) antigen sensitization (specific total Ig, IgG1, and IgE antibodies, and cutaneous hypersensitivity) were investigated in adolescent sheep from placentally restricted (PR, n = 23) and control (n = 40) pregnancies. Increases in circulating HDM-specific IgE (P = 0.007) and OVA-specific IgE (P = 0.038) were greater in PR than control progeny. PR did not alter total Ig, IgG1, or IgM responses to either antigen. PR increased OVA-specific but not HDM-specific IgA responses in females only (P = 0.023). Multiple birth increased Ig responses to OVA in a sex-specific manner. PR decreased the proportion of positive cutaneous hypersensitivity responders to OVA at 24 h (P = 0.030) but had no effect on cutaneous responses to HDM. Acute wheal responses to intradermal histamine correlated positively with birth weight in singletons (P = 0.023). Intrauterine growth restriction may suppress inflammatory responses in skin downstream of IgE induction, without impairment in antibody responses to a nonpolysaccharide vaccine. Discord between cutaneous and IgE responses following sensitization suggests new mechanisms for prenatal allergy programming.

Topics: Age Factors; Animals; Antibodies, Bacterial; Antigens; Bacterial Vaccines; Birth Weight; Clostridium; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Fetal Growth Retardation; Gestational Age; Histamine; Hypersensitivity, Delayed; Hypersensitivity, Immediate; Immunization; Immunoglobulin E; Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulin M; Insect Proteins; Male; Ovalbumin; Pregnancy; Pyroglyphidae; Sheep; Skin; Skin Tests

Maternal investment of yolk and albumen in avian eggs varies with egg mass and contributes to variation in hatchling mass. Here we use the natural variation in mass and composition of Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) eggs to examine consequences of variation in yolk and albumen mass on hatchling phenotype. The Double-crested Cormorant, a large bird with altricial young, lays eggs ranging in mass from 40 to 60 g and containing an average of 82% albumen and 18% yolk. Variation in Cormorant egg mass arises primarily from variation in the amount of albumen and water in the eggs; yolk mass remains relatively constant, contributing only 10% to egg mass variation. Likewise, variation in hatchling mass correlates positively with albumen mass and albumen solids contribute to hatchling dry mass. Thus, variation in Cormorant egg mass is primarily the result of variation in the amount of egg albumen, which contributes most to variation in hatchling mass. Similarities in egg composition of altricial birds, along with data presented here, suggest that variation in hatchling mass of all altricial birds may depend most on the amount of egg albumen, unlike species with precocial young that hatch from eggs with substantially more yolk.

Topics: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Birds; Birth Weight; Egg Yolk; Embryo, Nonmammalian; Energy Metabolism; Female; Maternal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Ovalbumin; Oviparity; Oviposition; Oxygen Consumption; Phenotype

Topics: Analysis of Variance; Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Animals; Bacterial Infections; Birth Weight; Colostrum; Female; Immunity, Maternally-Acquired; Immunoglobulins; Intestinal Absorption; Male; Nutrition Disorders; Orchiectomy; Ovalbumin; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Risk Factors; Sheep; Stress, Physiological