Effect of protein and zinc deficiencies on vaccine efficacy in guinea pigs following pulmonary infection with Listeria

Abstract

Specific pathogen-free guinea pigs were maintained for 3 weeks on purified diets containing 30% protein (ovalbumin) and 50 ppm added zinc (Control-C), 10% protein and 50 ppm added zinc (low protein-LP), or 30% protein and no added zinc (low zinc-LZ). Half of the animals in each diet group were vaccinated intraperitoneally with 2.5 x 10(3) viable Listeria monocytogenes organisms after 8 days of diet treatment. Ten days later, all animals received an aerosol challenge of 250 L. monocytogenes organisms and were killed 4 days later. Both zinc and protein deficiency resulted in animals that were growth retarded as compared to controls. Specific nutrient effects were observed as significant reductions in total serum proteins (LP group) and plasma zinc concentrations (LZ group). In vaccinated guinea pigs, both protein and zinc deprivation resulted in significant impairment of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) responses following the intradermal injection of listeria antigen. Diet did not exert a measurable impact on the response of nonvaccinated guinea pigs to pulmonary listeriosis. Prior vaccination allowed both malnourished groups to control the challenge infection successfully as measured by significant reductions in viable bacilli recovered from the lung, spleen and hilar lymph nodes. The diet and vaccine effect varied depending on the tissue examined. Thus, although both protein and zinc deficiencies resulted in loss of peripheral antigen-specific T lymphocyte function (DTH), vaccine efficacy was not impaired.

Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of zinc. Zinc-dependent NF-κB signaling

“…Worth mentioning are also studies that evaluated the resistance of zinc deficient animals to infectious diseases. It has been repeatedly proven that zinc deficiency results in suppressed immune responses and increased susceptibility to infectious agents, including F. tularensis (Pekarek et al 1977 ), Listeria monocytogenes (Coghlan et al 1988 ), Salmonella enteritidis (Kidd et al 1994 ), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (McMurray et al 1990 ), and many viruses, protozoan parasites, and eukaryotes (Shankar and Prasad 1998 ). The results of these studies acknowledged that zinc deficiency in animals are responsible for their poorer performance during endotoxin challenge due to the delay in production of protective antibodies.…”

Zinc and Copper Levels in Seropositive Toxoplasmosis Women in Mosul – Iraq

“…Also zinc deficient animals have suppressed immune responses and are more susceptible to a diverse range of infectious agents including Herpes simplex virus (Feiler et al, 1982). Listeria monocytogenes (Coghlan et al, 1988).…”

Strategies for Zinc Uptake in Pseudomonas aeruginosa at the Host–Pathogen Interface

“…Thus, numerous animal and human studies indicate that zinc deficiency decreases resistance to infectious diseases. Zincdeficient animals have suppressed immune responses and are more susceptible to a diverse range of infectious agents, including Herpes simplex virus (Feiler et al, 1982) and Semliki forest virus (Singh et al, 1992), bacteria such as Francisella tularensis (Pekarek et al, 1977), Listeria monocytogenes (Carlomagno et al, 1986;Coghlan et al, 1988), Salmonella enteritidis (Kidd et al, 1994), and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (McMurray et al, 1990), the protozoan parasites Trypanosoma cruzi (Fraker et al, 1982), Trypanosoma musculi (Lee et al, 1983), Toxoplasma gondii (Tasçi et al, 1995), and Plasmodium yoelii (Shankar et al, 1995), eukaryotes such as Candida albicans (Salvin et al, 1987;Singh et al, 1992), and the helminths Heligmosomoides polygyrus (Minkus et al, 1992;Shi et al, 2010), Strongyloides ratti (Fenwick et al, 1990), Trichinella spiralis (Fenwick et al, 1990), Fasciola hepatica (Flagstad et al, 1972), and Schistosoma mansoni (Nawar et al, 1992). In summary, zinc deficiency affects cells involved in innate and adaptive immunity at the level of survival, proliferation, and maturation and increases host sensitivity to bacterial, viral, and fungal infections.…”