Early nutritional experiments: effects on the humoral and cellular immune responses in mice
Wade, S.; Lemonnier, D.; Bleiberg, F.; Delorme, J.
Journal of Nutrition 113(6): 1131-1139
1983
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-3166 PMID: 6682888 Document Number: 199925
Studies were carried out to determine the effect of varying intake during the suckling period on the immune responses of mice. Female mice were bred in litters of 4, 9 or 20 pups. Litters of 9 pups were considered control groups. Overfeeding (litters of 4) during this period did not change the serum protein profile nor the humoral and cellular immunity of the weanling mice, as judged by their plaque-forming cell responses to SRBC . Conversely, mice bred in large litters showed, at weaning, decreased serum levels of albumin and .alpha.-globulins but did not exhibit marked alterations of their immune respones, although they were in a severe state of protein-energy deficiency. After weaning, feeding a normal diet ad lib normalized all the altered parameters tested in the malnourished mice. When malnutrition was followed by intermittent feeding, the studied immunological functions were significantly affected: the humoral and the cell-mediated immune responses were depressed. These observed alterations were not related to changes in the levels of serum corticosterone or Zn. Differences in the length of dietary deficiency rather than its severity may explain some of the conflicts in reports on functional immune tests in protein-energy malnutrition.