ISSN 2326-7283
African Journal of Internal Medicine ISSN 2326-7283 Vol. 6 (4), pp. 472-478, April, 2018. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
A study of the immunomodulatory effect of probiotics
Cheng-Chih Tsai1*, Po-Chiang Ke2, Ten-Ken Hsu3 and You-Miin Hsieh2
1Department of Food Science and Technology, HungKuang University, Shalu, Taichung 433, ROC Taiwan.
2Department of Food and Nutrition, Providence University, Shalu, Taichung 433, ROC Taiwan.
3SynbioTech Inc., Kaohsiung 821, ROC Taiwan.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: 886- 4- 26318652 ext 5082. Fax: 886- 4- 26319167.
Accepted 03 July, 2017
Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunomodulatory effect of probiotics, namely the production of interferon γ (IFN-γ) and interleukin-4 (IL-4) cytokines, in vitro and in vivo. Our experimental groups included ten lactic acid bacterial (LAB) strains, complex strains, a LAB cell free fraction and a control group. Our models included human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) as the human model and BALB/c mice as the animal model. The experiment was carried out over a period of 4 weeks during which the food intake and the body weight of our animal model was reported weekly. BALB/ c mice were randomly divided into three groups and injected with 2 µg/ mouse and 6 µg/ mouse ovalbumin (OVA) mixed with complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) at week zero and two. After week four the serum total immunoglobulin E (IgE) was measured. The results show that probiotic products induced IFN-γ, suppressed IL-4, and increased the IFN-γ/ IL-4 (Th-1/ Th-2) ratio significantly in PBMCs. Probiotic products also decreased significantly the serum total IgE and OVA-specific IgE levels in our animal model. Our study indicates that the multi-species probiotics may therefore have an anti-allergy effect.
Key words: Probiotics, human peripheral blood mononuclear cell, cytokines, immunoglobulin E, anti-allergy effect.