A Multiscale Spatiotemporal Model Including a Switch from Aerobic to Anaerobic Metabolism Reproduces Succession in the Early Infant Gut Microbiota.

The human intestinal microbiota starts to form immediately after birth and is important for the health of the host. During the first days, facultatively anaerobic bacterial species generally dominate, such as . These are succeeded by strictly anaerobic species, particularly species.

Effect of bovine milk fat-based infant formulae on microbiota, metabolites and stool parameters in healthy term infants in a randomized, crossover, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Natural enrichment of sn-2 palmitate content of infant formulae by using bovine milk fat is known to reduce formation of faecal fatty acid soaps and to improve stool consistency, but effects on gut microbiota composition are unknown. The purpose of this study was to test the influence of milk fat-based formula high in sn-2 palmitate on the infants' gut microbiota composition and to confirm the beneficial effects of the formula on formation of faecal fatty acid soaps and stool consistency.

Methods: Twenty-two healthy term, formula-fed infants were enrolled in a single-blinded randomized, crossover, placebo-controlled trial.

Dietary Vitamin D Supplementation Is Ineffective in Preventing Murine Cow's Milk Allergy, Irrespective of the Presence of Nondigestible Oligosaccharides.

Introduction: Cow's milk allergy (CMA) is one of the most common food allergies especially early in life. A mixture of nondigestible short-chain galacto-oligosaccharides, long-chain fructo-oligosaccharides, and pectin-derived acidic-oligosaccharides (GFA) may reduce allergy development and allergic symptoms in murine CMA. Recently, vitamin D (VitD) has been suggested to have beneficial effects in reducing allergy as well.

A multi-center assessment to compare residual allergenicity of partial hydrolyzed whey proteins in a murine model for cow's milk allergy - Comparison to the single parameter guinea pig model.

Introduction: This 4-center study is part of a project to validate a food allergy murine model for safety testing of hydrolyzed infant formulas.

Aim: The aim of the current multi-center experiment was to evaluate the residual allergenicity of three partial hydrolyzed whey proteins (pWH) in a multiple-parameter cow's milk allergy murine model and to compare to the classically used guinea pig model. Previous work showed differences in the magnitude of the allergic response to whey between centers.

Development and validation of bioengineered intestinal tubules for translational research aimed at safety and efficacy testing of drugs and nutrients.

Currently used intestinal cell models have limited translational value, therefore, development of novel in vitro intestinal models that recapitulate the human in vivo setting more closely are of interest. Here, an advanced intestinal model was developed by the incorporation of physiological parameters, such as extracellular matrix (ECM) elements and shear stress, to cultured Caco-2 cells in a 3-dimensional environment. Caco-2 cells grown on ECM-coated hollow fiber membranes (HFM) under physiological shear stress show an improved phenotype, as demonstrated by the presence of enterocytes, goblet, Paneth, enteroendocrine and stem cells.

Mice co-administrated with partially hydrolysed whey proteins and prebiotic fibre mixtures show allergen-specific tolerance and a modulated gut microbiota.

Non-breastfed infants at-risk of allergy are recommended to use a hydrolysed formula before the age of 6 months. The addition of prebiotics to this formula may reduce the allergy development in these infants, but clinical evidence is still inconclusive. This study evaluates (1) whether the exposure duration to different prebiotics alongside a partially hydrolysed whey protein (pHP) influences its' effectiveness to prevent allergy development and (2) whether the gut microbiota plays a role in this process.

The Combination Therapy of Dietary Galacto-Oligosaccharides With Budesonide Reduces Pulmonary Th2 Driving Mediators and Mast Cell Degranulation in a Murine Model of House Dust Mite Induced Asthma.

Dietary non-digestible galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) suppress allergic responses in mice sensitized and challenged with house dust mite (HDM). Budesonide is the standard therapy for allergic asthma in humans but is not always completely effective. To compare the efficacy of budesonide or different doses of GOS alone or with a combination therapy of budesonide and GOS on HDM-allergic responses in mice.

Identification of peptides with tolerogenic potential in a hydrolysed whey-based infant formula.

Background: Failure to induce oral tolerance may result in food allergy. Hydrolysed cow's milk-based infant formulas are recommended in subjects with a high risk of developing allergic disease. Presentation of T cell epitopes is a prerequisite to generate regulatory T cells that could contribute to oral tolerance.

Evaluating Human Intestinal Cell Lines for Studying Dietary Protein Absorption.

With the global population rising, the need for sustainable and resource-efficiently produced proteins with nutritional and health promoting qualities has become urgent. Proteins are important macronutrients and are involved in most, if not all, biological processes in the human body. This review discusses these absorption mechanisms in the small intestine.

Importance of maternal diet in the training of the infant's immune system during gestation and lactation.

Latest forecasts predict that half of the European population will be allergic within the coming 15 years, with food allergies contributing substantially to the total burden; preventive measures are urgently needed. Unfortunately, all attempted alimentary strategies for primary prevention of allergic diseases through allergen avoidance so far have failed. This also holds true for the prevention of food allergies in breastfed infants by the common practice of excluding certain foods with allergenic potential from the maternal diet.

The mycotoxin deoxynivalenol facilitates allergic sensitization to whey in mice.

Intestinal epithelial stress or damage may contribute to allergic sensitization against certain food antigens. Hence, the present study investigated whether impairment of intestinal barrier integrity by the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) contributes to the development of whey-induced food allergy in a murine model. C3H/HeOuJ mice, orally exposed to DON plus whey once a week for 5 consecutive weeks, showed whey-specific IgG1 and IgE in serum and an acute allergic skin response upon intradermal whey challenge, although early initiating mechanisms of sensitization in the intestine appeared to be different compared with the widely used mucosal adjuvant cholera toxin (CT).

Oligosaccharides in Urine, Blood, and Feces of Piglets Fed Milk Replacer Containing Galacto-oligosaccharides.

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are absorbed into the blood (about 1% of the HMO intake) and subsequently excreted in urine, where they may protect the infant from pathogen infection. As dietary galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) have partial structural similarities with HMOs, this study investigated the presence of GOS and oligosaccharides originating from milk replacer in blood serum, urine, and cecal and fecal samples of piglets, as a model for human infants. Using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and capillary electrophoresis with fluorescence detection, oligosaccharides originating from piglet diet including 3'-sialyllactose and specific GOS ranging from degree of polymerization 3 to 6 were detected in blood serum and in urine of piglets.

The development of allergic inflammation in a murine house dust mite asthma model is suppressed by synbiotic mixtures of non-digestible oligosaccharides and Bifidobacterium breve M-16V.

Purpose: The incidence and severity of allergic asthma is rising, and novel strategies to prevent or treat this disease are needed. This study investigated the effects of different mixtures of non-digestible oligosaccharides combined with Bifidobacterium breve M-16V (BB) on the development of allergic airway inflammation in an animal model for house dust mite (HDM)-induced allergic asthma.

Methods: BALB/c mice were sensitized intranasally (i.

Human Milk Blocks DC-SIGN-Pathogen Interaction via MUC1.

Beneficial effects of breastfeeding are well-recognized and include both immediate neonatal protection against pathogens and long-term protection against allergies and autoimmune diseases. Although several proteins have been identified to have anti-viral or anti-bacterial effects like secretory IgA or lactoferrin, the mechanisms of immune modulation are not fully understood. Recent studies identified important beneficial effects of glycans in human milk, such as those expressed in oligosaccharides or on glycoproteins.

Non-digestible oligosaccharides modulate intestinal immune activation and suppress cow's milk allergic symptoms.

Background: Cow's milk allergy is a common food allergy in childhood and no effective preventive or curative treatment is available. This study aimed at comparing single short-chain galacto- (scGOS), long-chain fructo- (lcFOS) or pectin-derived acidic oligosaccharides (pAOS) and/or mixtures of scGOS/lcFOS (GF) or scGOS/lcFOS/pAOS (GFA) to prevent or treat food allergy.

Methods: In the preventive protocol, C3H/HeOuJ mice were fed diets containing single oligosaccharides or mixtures GF or GFA throughout the study protocol.

Mechanisms underlying immune effects of dietary oligosaccharides.

The WHO refers to human milk as the nutritional gold standard for term infants. Human milk contains many immunomodulatory compounds, including oligosaccharides. Human-milk oligosaccharides can serve as prebiotics because the nondigestible oligosaccharides present in human milk show a clear bifidogenic effect on the gut microbiota.

Interlaboratory evaluation of a cow's milk allergy mouse model to assess the allergenicity of hydrolysed cow's milk based infant formulas.

This study describes two phases of a multi-phase project aiming to validate a mouse model for cow's milk allergy to assess the potential allergenicity of hydrolysed cow's milk based infant formulas (claim support EC-directive 2006/141/E). The transferability and the discriminatory power of this model was evaluated in 4 research centers. Mice were sensitized by oral gavage with whey or extensively hydrolysed whey (eWH) using cholera toxin as an adjuvant.

Human milk: a source of more life than we imagine.

The presence of bacteria in human milk has been acknowledged since the seventies. For a long time, microbiological analysis of human milk was only performed in case of infections and therefore the presence of non-pathogenic bacteria was yet unknown. During the last decades, the use of more sophisticated culture-dependent and -independent techniques, and the steady development of the -omic approaches are opening up the new concept of the 'milk microbiome', a complex ecosystem with a greater diversity than previously anticipated.

Difficulties in describing allergic disease modulation by pre-, pro- and synbiotics.

The so-called hygiene hypothesis is, at least in part, accountable for the increase in allergic diseases in the developed countries. Although there is support for one of its primary predictions that host-microbe interactions in early life have longterm effects on the development of disease across populations, the theory has already proven to be imperfect as many more recent increases in certain diseases cannot be explained by the hygiene hypothesis. Nevertheless, many research groups are interested in the host-microbe interactions and are exploring the use of "live micro-organisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit to the host" (probiotics) and "selectively fermented ingredients that result in specific changes, in the composition and/or activity of the gastrointestinal microbiota, thus conferring benefit(s) upon host health" (prebiotics) to reduce the allergic disease onset or clinical outcomes.

Food-derived oligosaccharides exhibit pharmaceutical properties.

Breast feeding is considered as the best nutrition for growth and development of an infant. Human milk consists of a unique combination of nutritional components each with different characteristics. Oligosaccharides or non-digestible carbohydrates as one of these components, are generally accepted to have a beneficial effect by selectively stimulating the growth and/or activity of one or a limited number of bacterial species.

In vivo and in vitro evaluation of the residual allergenicity of partially hydrolysed infant formulas.

Hypoallergenic infant formulas are commonly used for genetically predisposed children and infants diagnosed with cow's milk allergy. This study describes both in vitro and in vivo approaches to assess residual allergenicity of partially hydrolysed infant formulas. Electrophoretic patterns indicated that β-lactoglobulin and other whey proteins were largely degraded.

Identification of the Mhc region as an asthma susceptibility locus in recombinant congenic mice.

Mouse models of allergic asthma are characterized by airway hyperreactivity (AHR), Th2-driven eosinophilic airway inflammation, high allergen-specific IgE (anti-OVA IgE) levels in serum, and airway remodeling. Because asthma susceptibility has a strong genetic component, we aimed to identify new asthma susceptibility genes in the mouse by analyzing the asthma phenotypes of the Leishmania major resistant (lmr) recombinant congenic (RC) strains. The lmr RC strains are derived from C57BL/6 and BALB/c intercrosses and carry congenic loci on chromosome 17 (lmr1) and 9 (lmr2) in both backgrounds.

Effect of nutrient deficiencies on in vitro Th1 and Th2 cytokine response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells to Plasmodium falciparum infection.

Background: An appropriate balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines that mediate innate and adaptive immune responses is required for effective protection against human malaria and to avoid immunopathology. In malaria endemic countries, this immunological balance may be influenced by micronutrient deficiencies.

Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from Tanzanian preschool children were stimulated in vitro with Plasmodium falciparum-parasitized red blood cells to determine T-cell responses to malaria under different conditions of nutrient deficiencies and malaria status.