title: Urinary secretory IgA after nutritional rehabilitation.
abstract: We studied the secretory IgA (sIgA) response of the mucosal urinary tract of malnourished children before and after nutritional rehabilitation. sIgA concentration (mg/l) was determined by ELISA in 187 children aged 3 months to 5 years. The children, who frequented a day care center, were divided into four groups, according to nutritional status: 57 were eutrophic, 49 were undergrown, 57 were moderately malnourished and 24 were severely malnourished. In addition, dip slide (Urotube, Roche) and dip-stick (Combur 9-Boehringer) tests showed that children had no bacteriuria or any other urinary abnormalities. Plasma albumin concentration (g/dl) was significantly lower (P < 0.005) in the severely malnourished group (mean 3.0 +/- 0.3 SD) than in the eutrophic group (mean 4.0 +/- 0.5 SD). When each nutritional state was analyzed, no significant differences in the sIgA were found between the 0 [symbol: see text]1 and 1 [symbol: see text]5 year age range. In the moderately and severely malnourished groups, sIgA (0.36 and 0.45, respectively) was significantly lower than in the eutrophic (0.69) and undergrown (0.75) groups. Ninety-five children were included in the 8-month follow-up study; 30 children were excluded from the follow-up because 4 had bacteriuria, 11 had leukocyturia, 8 had proteinuria and 7 had hematuria. Among the malnourished children, 40% showed nutritional improvement (P < 0.05) and significantly increased sIgA as compared to reference values for the eutrophic and undergrown groups. These data suggest that malnourished children have a significantly lower urinary sIgA than eutrophic children. After nutritional rehabilitation, they develop local immunity with a significant increase in sIgA.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Nutrição, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, PE, Brasil. teodósio@netpe.com.br
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Teodósio
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Oliveira
mesh_terms: D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007071:Immunoglobulin A, Secretory / Q000652:urine*; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009092:Mucous Membrane; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000032:analysis; D014551:Urinary Tract / Q000276:immunology*; D005719:gamma-Globulins / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D001798:Blood Proteins; D007071:Immunoglobulin A, Secretory; D012709:Serum Albumin; D005719:gamma-Globulins