ovalbumin and Malnutrition

Exposure to early-life undernutrition is closely related to higher risks of adverse immunologic outcomes in adulthood. Although it has been suggested that asthma has its origins in early life, its underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown.. We characterized the effects of early-life undernutrition on T lymphocytes, which play a pivotal role in immune diseases, and we investigated whether this contributes to susceptibility to asthma in adulthood.. Pregnant mice were fed a protein restriction diet (PRD) to establish an early-life undernutrition model. Naive CD4. PRD CD4. Early-life undernutrition induced mechanistic target of rapamycin 1-dependent glycolysis upregulation and T

Topics: Allergens; Animals; Asthma; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes; Cytokines; Epigenesis, Genetic; Female; Glycolysis; Lung; Male; Malnutrition; Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 1; Mechanistic Target of Rapamycin Complex 2; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Ovalbumin; Pregnancy

IL-4 produced by Th2 cells can block cytokine production by Th1 cells, and Th1 IFN-γ is known to counterregulate Th2 immune response, inhibiting allergic eosinophilia. As intrauterine undernutrition can attenuate lung inflammation, we investigated the influence of intrauterine undernourishment on the Th1/Th2 cytokine balance and allergic lung inflammation. Intrauterine undernourished offspring were obtained from dams fed 50% of the nourished diet of their counterparts and were immunized at 9 weeks of age. We evaluated the cell counts and cytokine protein expression in the bronchoalveolar lavage, mucus production and collagen deposition, and cytokine gene expression and transcription factors in lung tissue 21 days after ovalbumin immunization. Intrauterine undernourishment significantly reduced inflammatory cell airway infiltration, mucus secretion and collagen deposition, in rats immunized and challenged. Intrauterine undernourished rats also exhibited an altered cytokine expression profile, including higher TNF-α and IL-1β expression and lower IL-6 expression than well-nourished rats following immunization and challenge. Furthermore, the intrauterine undernourished group showed reduced ratios of the IL-4/IFN-γ and the transcription factors GATA-3/T-Bet after immunization and challenge. We suggest that the attenuated allergic lung inflammation observed in intrauterine undernourished rats is related to an altered Th1/Th2 cytokine balance resulting from a reduced GATA-3/T-bet ratio.

Topics: Animals; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid; Female; GATA3 Transcription Factor; Hypersensitivity; Interferon-gamma; Interleukin-1beta; Interleukin-4; Interleukin-6; Male; Malnutrition; Ovalbumin; Pneumonia; Pregnancy; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Rats; Rats, Wistar; T-Box Domain Proteins; Th1 Cells; Th1-Th2 Balance; Th2 Cells; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha