Abstract
Malnutrition reduces the host immunity and enhances the host susceptibility to various diseases. The present study describes the effect of oral administration of probiotic Lactobacillus casei to malnourished-Giardia-infected BALB/c mice with respect to surface alterations and brush border membrane enzyme activity of the small intestine. It was observed that probiotic feeding either prior to or simultaneously with Giardia infection to malnourished mice led to significantly enhanced activity of disaccharidases compared with malnourished and Giardia-infected mice. Scanning electron microscopy also revealed less mucosal damage in the villi of small intestine of probiotic-fed malnourished-Giardia-infected mice compared with completely damaged, mummified, or blunted villi of malnourished-Giardia-infected mice. The findings indicate that probiotics can be used as the prophylactic candidate in abrogating the gut and intestinal dissacharidases anamolies in malnourished hosts suffering from the intestinal diseases.
Highlights
Malnutrition and infections are quiet complimentary and show combined effects that worsen the health and continue to be an important cause of morbidity and stunting of growth among children in developing countries [1, 2]
Malnourished mice challenged with Giardia trophozoites voided cysts gradually and had the highest cyst count on day 7 PI
Surface alterations occurring in the small intestine were monitored by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
Summary
Malnutrition and infections are quiet complimentary and show combined effects that worsen the health and continue to be an important cause of morbidity and stunting of growth among children in developing countries [1, 2]. In India, 50% of child deaths are due to malnutrition while 46% of children under five years of age in rural India and 33% in urban India are underweight, with 16% being severely undernourished and 48% stunted. Malnourished individuals are more susceptible to various diseases such as typhoid, malaria, measles, giardiasis, and pneumonia [1, 4]. Other than in malnourished individuals, giardiasis is more common in young children as well as in homosexual, immunocompromised people with the highest prevalence of 20%–30% percent in developing countries [5, 6]. The parasite mainly inhabits the small intestine of humans and symptoms include flatulence, bloating, constipation, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, malabsorption, and growth retardation
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