Humoral and
Cellular Immune Responses in Gluten-Treated
Suckling or Hand-Fed Rats
H. KOZÁKOVÁ,
R. ŠTĚPÁNKOVÁ, L. TUČKOVÁ, M. ŠINKORA, L.
JELÍNKOVÁ, H. TLASKALOVÁ-HOGENOVÁ
Department
of Immunology and Gnotobiology, Institute of
Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech
Republic, Nový Hrádek, Czech Republic
Received
September 16, 1999
Accepted March 27, 2000
Summary
We
analyzed the immune response to gliadin in
suckling rats and rats hand-fed with an
artificial milk formula, an animal model of
gluten enteropathy. Animals of both groups were intragastrically given either gliadin or albumin
(control animals) or gliadin from birth till day
55. When compared to the controls, spleen
lymphocytes from both groups of gliadin-treated
rats cultivated in vitro exhibited a significant
increase of spontaneous 3H-thymidine
incorporation. Moreover, the proliferation of
spleen and mesenteric lymph node (MLN) lymhocytes
from both groups of gliadin-treated suckling and
hand-fed rats was specifically increased by the
in vitro gliadin challenge. Spleen B cells from gliadin-treated rats spontaneously produced
higher amounts of gliadin-specific antibodies
than those from the controls, however, in vitro
stimulation by gliadin caused no further increase
in antibody production. Apoptotic DNA
fragmentation in MLN cells was higher in gliadin-treated rats than in albumin-treated
ones, independently of the milk diet during the
suckling period.
Key words
Model
of coeliac disease · Rats · Proliferation · Antigliadin antibodies · Apoptosis
Reprint
requests
H.
Kozáková, Department of Immunology and Gnotobiology, Institute of Microbiology, Academy
of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ-549 22 Nový
Hrádek, Czech Republic. kozakova@biomed.cas.cz
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