Short- and long-term impact of prebiotic supplementation during infancy on immune activity in Wistar rats

• Published in: The Journal of immunology (1950) Vol. 202; no. 1_Supplement; pp. 191 - 191.18
• Main Authors: Jeffrey, Michael P, Clarke, Sandra T, Krysa, Nicole, Brooks, Steve P.J., Kalmokoff, Martin L, Green, Judy, Matias, Fernando, Green-Johnson, Julia May
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.05.2019
• DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.202.Supp.191.18
• ISSN: 0022-1767

Abstract The aim of this study was to examine short-term and long-term effects of early administration of two dietary oligosaccharide supplements, fructooligosaccharide (FOS) and galactooligosaccharide (GOS) on innate immune parameters in infant Wistar rats. A second aim was to compare the impact of these supplements between sexes. Infant rats were gavaged orally on post natal days (PND) 6–16 with either FOS or GOS solution (0.075 g/50 μL), or with glucose (0.375 g/50 μL) or no gavage as controls while being maintained on an AIN-93G diet post-weaning (n = 8 per treatment/sex). Immune impacts at PND-16 and PND-70 were determined by immunophenotyping via flow cytometry and analyses of whole blood ex vivo TLR ligand responses at PND-70. At PND-16, percentages of CD103+ Dendritic cells (DC) were higher in MLN (P < 0.003) and spleens (P < 0.008) of FOS-treated rats (P < 0.003). At PND-70, CD103+ were unaffected but FOS supplementation had differential effects on MLN and spleen γδ-T cell populations in females versus males. Unstimulated whole blood cultures from rats fed GOS produced less CINC-1 than other treatments (P < 0.02, 57.5 ± 21.6 pg/mL). GOS-fed rats also had lower CINC-1 production in response to TLR2 (Pam3Cys, P < 0.02) and TLR4 (lipopolysaccharide, P < 0.01) stimulation, and produced less IL-1β after TLR4 stimulation (P < 0.05) than rats from all other treatments. Males produced more IL-10 than females after TLR4 stimulation regardless of treatment (P < 0.001, 72.6 ± 11.6 vs. 40.9 ± 8.2 pg/mL). Overall, these results suggest limited impact of early administration of prebiotic supplements FOS and GOS on immune development, with GOS having some long-term potential to modulate TLR2 and TLR4 ligand responses.