Probiotic supplements induce immunological responses in the host, and dietary fructooligosaccharides (FOS) stimulate the growth of selected intestinal microflora. In this study we investigated the immunological influences of orally administrated FOS. BALB/c mice were orally administered 0-7.5% FOS for 6 weeks, and the intestinal mucosal immune responses were measured. In the 2.5%-FOS group, fecal IgA was significantly increased. IgA secretion by Peyer's patch (PP) cells was upregulated in a dose-dependent way in response to FOS and CD4+ T cells from PP showed a dose-dependent increase in production of interferon-gamma and interleukin (IL) 10, and a high response in production of IL-5 and IL-6. In contrast, FOS suppressed serum IgG1. Our findings suggest that FOS supplementation changes the intestinal environment of microflora, and leads to upregulation of IgA secretion in CD4+ PP cells in intestinal mucosa, and to suppression of the systemic immune response to type 2 helper T (Th2) dominant.

The evolutionary origins of neurons remain unknown. Although recent genome data of extant early-branching animals have shown that neural genes existed in the common ancestor of animals, the physiological and genetic properties of neurons in the early evolutionary phase are still unclear. Here, we performed a mass spectrometry-based comprehensive survey of short peptides from early-branching lineages Cnidaria, Porifera and Ctenophora. We identified a number of mature ctenophore neuropeptides that are expressed in neurons associated with sensory, muscular and digestive systems. The ctenophore peptides are stored in vesicles in cell bodies and neurites, suggesting volume transmission similar to that of cnidarian and bilaterian peptidergic systems. A comparison of genetic characteristics revealed that the peptide-expressing cells of Cnidaria and Ctenophora express the vast majority of genes that have pivotal roles in maturation, secretion and degradation of neuropeptides in Bilateria. Functional analysis of neuropeptides and prediction of receptors with machine learning demonstrated peptide regulation of a wide range of target effector cells, including cells of muscular systems. The striking parallels between the peptidergic neuronal properties of Cnidaria and Bilateria and those of Ctenophora, the most basal neuron-bearing animals, suggest a common evolutionary origin of metazoan peptidergic nervous systems.

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Ovalbumin (OVA) was modified with glucose (Glu) and glucose 6-phosphate (G6P) through the amino-carbonyl reaction (Maillard reaction), and heat-induced aggregation and emulsifying activity of the modified proteins were investigated. G6P reacted with the free amino groups in a similar manner to Glu; about 70-80% of the total amino groups were blocked by the reaction at 50 "C, and 65% relative humidity for 3 days. However, the reaction with G6P induced protein polymerization and brown-color development more strongly than that of Glu. OVA modified with G6P was much more acidic than either native OVA or the Glu-modified OVA, and it was highly soluble and quite resistant to heat-induced aggregation, i.e., its high-concentration solution (5%) was still completely soluble and transparent even aRer being heated at 100 "C for 10 min. Furthermore, OVA emulsifying activity was increased about 5-fold by the modification with G6P.

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