Oral Administration of Bovine Milk from Cows Hyperimmunized with Intestinal Bacterin Stimulates Lamina Propria T Lymphocytes to Produce Th1-Biased Cytokines in Mice

Yuanyuan Wang,Lianjie Lin,Yasunobu Yoshikai,Changlong Lu,Katsuhiko Aoyama,Chunming Yin,Satoru Othtani,Xun Sun

doi:10.3390/ijms15045458

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the effects of oral administration of bovine milk from cows hyperimmunized with a proprietary bacterin (immune milk “Sustaina”) on mucosal immunity in the intestine of adult mice. C57BL/6 mice were orally given immune or control milk for two weeks, and then lymphocyte population and the cytokine production in lamina propria of colon in normal mice and mice induced colitis by dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) were detected. We found that the levels of IFN-γ and IL-10 increased, but the levels of IL-17A and IL-4, decreased in lamina propria of colon in immune milk-fed mice as compared with those in control milk-fed mice. Interestingly, oral administration of immune milk partially improved the acute colitis induced by DSS. The levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ increased, but IL-6, IL-17A and IL-4 decreased in lamina propria (LP) of colon in immune milk-fed mice with DSS-induced colitis. Our results suggest that immune milk may stimulate CD4+ T cells to polarize towards a Th1 type response, but contrarily suppress Th17 and Th2 cells responses in large intestinal LP of mice. The results indicate that this kind of immune milk has is able to promote the maintainance of intestinal homeostasis and enhance protection against infection, and could alleviate the symptoms of acute colitis in mice.

Highlights

The mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract is the first line of defense in battling invasion of non-self antigens from commensal microflora and foods, and constitutively active in terms of immunological aspect [1]
In order to determine whether immune milk affects the activation of T cells in the lamina propria lymphocytes (T-LP lymphocytes (LPLs)) of colon in mice, we examined the cytokine production by
Significantly increased, the percentage of CD8+ T cells in T-LPL markedly decreased in large intestine of mice treated with immune milk as compared with those in control mice

Summary

Introduction

The mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract is the first line of defense in battling invasion of non-self antigens from commensal microflora and foods, and constitutively active in terms of immunological aspect [1]. This unique environment utilizes an immune system mediated by Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg cells that play important roles in homeostasis in the intestine through the production of various cytokines [2]. Regulatory CD4+ T cells, including naturally occurring Treg cells, inducible Treg cells, T helper type 3 (Th3) cells and T regulatory cell 1 phenotype (Tr1) cells play important roles in homeostasis in intestine through TGF-β and IL-10 production [8]

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