Retinoid‐ and carotenoid‐enriched diets influence the ontogenesis of the immune system in mice

Abstract

SUMMARYVitamin A (VA) has been identi®ed as an important factor for the development of the immune system, especially during ontogenesis. It has been shown that antibody secretion and proliferation of lymphocyte populations depend on retinoids. In the present study we investigated the in¯uence of a base VA diet and diets enriched with VA, b-carotene and lycopene, on the ontogenesis of the immune system in mice. We examined the absolute and relative concentrations of splenic B lymphocytes (CD45R/B220), T lymphocytes (CD3 ) and their subpopulations (CD4 and CD8 ), and measured serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentrations in the offspring of supplemented dams at different ages (1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21 and 65 days). The experimental diets resulted in higher numbers of T and B lymphocytes after VA and carotenoid enrichment, when compared, at various time-points, with the base diet. Higher values of total serum IgG were found in the b-carotene-enriched diet group on day 7. On days 7 and 14, the enriched diets induced signi®cant alterations in the percentages and total numbers of splenic lymphocytes in comparison to the base diet. Our results con®rm that supplementation with VA and carotenoids affect the immune-cell function during ontogenesis and suggest a possible role of these nutritional factors on the development of the immune system.

Lycopene affects the immune responses of finishing pigs

“…It is known that lycopene enriched diets and other carotenoids, increases B lymphocytes and serum IgG, after 7 days treatment, suggesting that carotenoid-based dietary supplementation may increase B lymphocyte production and the concentration of circulating immunoglobulins (Garcia et al 2003).…”

Retinoid Concentrations in the Mouse during Postnatal Development and after Maternal Vitamin A Supplementation

“…RBP relative percentage at day 7 after birth was maintained stable even though the serum concentrations of retinol were reduced indicating that retinol was available for the tissue demands. The end of the neonatal period may be a critical time point during development; our own observations on the effects of VA on lymphocyte physiology during postnatal development suggest that signifi cant changes on the lymphocyte expansion at day 7 [20] could be retinoid mediated and therefore the needs of retinoids may be increased. Coincidentally, the development of the outer retina in the mouse has shown a peak in cell differentiation at postnatal day 7 [29] .…”

“…The basal and VA-supplemented diets are shown in table 1 . The doses used are part of a study by our group aiming to observe the effects of high VA doses on the immune system during postnatal develop-ment [20] . Comparable doses were used by similar immunological studies [21,22] .…”

“…Lactation is a fi nely regulated physiological process prone to maternal dietary intervention, which results in high VA availability for the neonates. Increased retinoids during postnatal development can affect several retinoid-dependent physiological processes including hormonal imprinting of glucocorticoid and oestrogen receptor-binding capacity, as observed in the progeny of retinoid-treated lactating dams [37] ; postnatal keratinocyte differentiation/proliferation and skin's immunity as shown in retinoid X receptor ablated mice [7] and immune function including B-cell physiology [38] , Th2-mediated responses [39] , thymocyte differentiation [40] and postnatal immune development [20] .…”

Towards application of genetic engineering in citriculture: 1) assessing dispersal, long-term stability and phenotypic impact of transgenes in citrus trees and 2) improving nutri-functional quality of orange fruit through metabolic engineering

“…As mentioned above, one of the most important physiological functions of (some) carotenoids in human nutrition is to act as vitamin A precursors. Apart of this nutritional role, other health benefits attributed to carotenoids include prevention of certain cancers (Seifried, et al, 2003;Tang, et al, 2005), cardiovascular diseases and age-related ocular diseases (Johnson, et al, 2000), as well as enhanced immune system functions (Hughes, 1999;Garcia, et al, 2003;Krinsky and Johnson, 2005). These beneficial effects of carotenoids mainly derive from their potent antioxidant activity, since carotenoids are known to function as free-radical scavengers (Yeum and Russell, 2002).…”