title: Maternal exposure to GOS/inulin mixture prevents food allergies and promotes tolerance in offspring in mice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Food allergies affect 4-8% of children and are constantly on the rise, thus making allergies a timely issue. Most importantly, prevention strategies are nonexistent, and current therapeutic strategies have limited efficacy and need to be improved. One alternative to prevent or reduce allergies, particularly during infancy, could consist of modulating maternal immunity and microbiota using nondigestible food ingredients, such as prebiotics. For this purpose, we studied the preventive effects of prebiotics in Balb/c mothers during pregnancy and breastfeeding on food allergy development in offspring mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  After weaning, the offspring from mothers that were exposed to GOS/inulin mixture or fed a control diet were intraperitoneally sensitized to wheat proteins to induce a systemic allergic response and orally exposed to the same allergen. Immunological, physiological, and microbial parameters were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  GOS/inulin mixture diet modified the microbiota of mothers and their offspring. Offspring from mothers that received GOS/inulin prebiotics were protected against food allergies and displayed lower clinical scores, specifically of IgE and histamine levels, compared to offspring from mothers fed a control diet. Moreover, GOS/inulin supplementation for the mother resulted in stronger intestinal permeability in the offspring. Enhancement of the regulatory response to allergic inflammation and changes in the Th2/Th1 balance toward a dampened Th2 response were observed in mice from GOS/inulin mixture-exposed mothers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The treatment of pregnant and lactating mice with nondigestible GOS/inulin prebiotics promotes a long-term protective effect against food allergies in the offspring.
authors.affiliation: UR1268 BIA, INRA, Nantes, France.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bouchaud
authors.affiliation: UR1268 BIA, INRA, Nantes, France.|UMR1087, l'institut du thorax, INSERM, Nantes, France.|UMR6291, CNRS, Nantes, France.|Université de Nantes, Nantes, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Castan
authors.affiliation: UR1268 BIA, INRA, Nantes, France.|UMR1087, l'institut du thorax, INSERM, Nantes, France.|UMR6291, CNRS, Nantes, France.|UMR913, Institut des Maladies de l'Appareil Digestif (IMAD), Faculté de Médecine, INSERM, Nantes, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chesné
authors.affiliation: UR1268 BIA, INRA, Nantes, France.|UMR1087, l'institut du thorax, INSERM, Nantes, France.|UMR6291, CNRS, Nantes, France.|UMR913, Institut des Maladies de l'Appareil Digestif (IMAD), Faculté de Médecine, INSERM, Nantes, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Braza
authors.affiliation: UMR6291, CNRS, Nantes, France.|UMR913, Institut des Maladies de l'Appareil Digestif (IMAD), Faculté de Médecine, INSERM, Nantes, France.|DHU2020 médecine personnalisée des maladies chroniques, Nantes, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aubert
authors.affiliation: UMR6291, CNRS, Nantes, France.|UMR913, Institut des Maladies de l'Appareil Digestif (IMAD), Faculté de Médecine, INSERM, Nantes, France.|DHU2020 médecine personnalisée des maladies chroniques, Nantes, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neunlist
authors.affiliation: UMR1087, l'institut du thorax, INSERM, Nantes, France.|UMR6291, CNRS, Nantes, France.|Université de Nantes, Nantes, France.|l'institut du thorax, Service de Pneumologie, CHU de Nantes, Nantes, France.|DHU2020 médecine personnalisée des maladies chroniques, Nantes, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Magnan
authors.affiliation: UR1268 BIA, INRA, Nantes, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bodinier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D007444:Inulin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007774:Lactation; D018811:Maternal Exposure; D051379:Mice; D064307:Microbiota; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000008:administration & dosage; D010539:Permeability; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides; D007444:Inulin
keywords: gut; immunity; microbiota; symptoms; wheat