Re-feeding rapidly restores protection againstHeligmosomoides bakeri(Nematoda) in protein-deficient mice

Abstract

This study determined whether the timing of re-feeding of protein-deficient mice restored functional protection against the gastrointestinal nematode, Heligmosomoides bakeri. Balb/c mice were fed a 3% protein-deficient (PD) diet and then transferred to 24% protein-sufficient (PS) diet either on the day of primary infection, 10 days after the primary infection, on the day of challenge infection, or 7 days after the challenge infection. Control mice were fed either the PD or PS diet. Onset of challenge, but not primary, infection caused short-term body weight loss, anorexia and reduced feed efficiency. Weight gain was delayed in mice when re-feeding commenced on the day of challenge infection; alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was also elevated in these mice on day 28 post-challenge. In contrast, other re-feeding groups attained similar body weights to PS mice within 4 days and had similar ALP at day 28. Serum leptin was higher in PD than PS mice and positively associated with food intake. As expected, worm survival was prolonged in mice fed the PD diet. However, egg production and worm burdens were similar in all re-feeding groups to the PS mice, indicating that protein re-feeding during either the primary or challenge infection rapidly restored normal parasite clearance.

Interactive effects of protein nutrition, genetic growth potential andHeligmosomoides bakeriinfection pressure on resilience and resistance in mice

“…The lack of parasite-induced anorexia across the infected mice was unexpected because such a reduction had been observed in previous studies with this mouse-parasite model (Houdijk and Bünger, 2006;Coltherd et al 2009) and in other studies using H. bakeri (Boulay et al 1998;Ing et al 2000;Tu et al 2007). A reduction in feed intake would be expected to occur mainly during the initial stages of infection (Coltherd et al 2009;Kyriazakis, 2010), and it might be that this would only have been evident above a certain level of infection pressure (Sandberg et al 2006).…”

Domestic dog health worsens with socio-economic deprivation of their home communities

“…Body condition is an important aspect of health that can influence an animal's ability to fight off infection, and nutrition may have an impact on body condition. Constant feeding of mice with nematode infections, while prolonging nematode survival, has been shown to increase weight gain and allowed for parasite clearance in the host (Tu et al 2007). A balanced diet provided to schoolchildren in Burkina Faso, Africa has also been shown to decrease the prevalence of intestinal helminths such as hookworms, roundworms, and tapeworms (Sanou et al 2010).…”

Tissue Mineral Distributions are Differentially Modified by Dietary Protein Deficiency and a Murine Nematode Infection

“…Mineral concentrations in the liver in infected mice were analyzed by one-way ANOVA, with average daily food intake as the covariate. Analysis of covariance was used, because food intake directly affects mineral intakes, and previous studies have shown that both protein deficiency and infection can influence food intake in our model [12,13]. Overall, mineral distributions in the spleen, serum, and liver were modified independently by protein deficiency and H. bakeri infection.…”

“…Diet composition was based on National Research Council mouse requirements [23], and egg-white-based semi-purified powdered diets were formulated as previously described [12]. A 3% protein diet was fed as the PD diet.…”

“…Previous studies in our laboratory have shown that protein deficiency suppressed Th2 immune responses necessary for expelling H. bakeri [11] and up-regulated cytokines and chemokines involved in Th1 inflammation [12,13]. In the absence of infection, the impact of protein deficiency on body mineral distribution has been studied almost exclusively in the liver, where the findings are surprisingly inconsistent.…”