title: Effects of orally ingested Bifidobacterium longum on the mucosal IgA response of mice to dietary antigens.
abstract: To study the effects of lactic acid bacteria on the mucosal defence against dietary protein antigens, we compared the mucosal IgA responses to beta-lactoglobulin (beta-LG) of two groups of mice fed a whey protein diet with and without a culture condensate of Bifidobacterium longum. Both total IgA and anti-beta-LG IgA levels in tissue extracts of the small intestinal wall were significantly higher in mice fed the B. longum diet for 2 weeks than in control ones. Peyer's patch (PP) cells from B. longum-fed mice had a much larger increase in in vitro IgA production than ones from control mice. Furthermore, the in vitro IgA response to beta-LG was detected only when PP cells from B. longum-fed mice were assayed. These results suggest that orally ingested lactic acid bacteria may protect a host from invasion of the intestinal mucosa by dietary antigens that have escaped enzymatic digestion in the intestine.
authors.affiliation: Nutrition Science Institute, Meiji Milk Products Co., Ltd., Odawara, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nakagawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yajima
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuwata
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology*; D001644:Bifidobacterium / Q000276:immunology*; D002417:Cattle; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000276:immunology*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000276:immunology*; D007782:Lactoglobulins / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010581:Peyer's Patches / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007782:Lactoglobulins