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DIGESTIBILITY AND ORAL TOLERANCE IN A MOUSE MODEL FOR FOOD ALLERGY
Citation:
BOWMAN, C. AND M. K. SELGRADE. DIGESTIBILITY AND ORAL TOLERANCE IN A MOUSE MODEL FOR FOOD ALLERGY. Presented at Society of Toxicology Annual Meeting, Charlotte, NC, March 25 - 29, 2007.
Description:
An animal model for food allergy is needed to test novel proteins produced through biotechnology for potential allergenicity. We demonstrate that mice can distinguish allergens from non-allergens when exposed to foods orally, both in terms of oral tolerance and allergic antibody responses generated by concomitant exposure to cholera toxin. Female 8-10 week-old C3H/HeJ mice were orally treated with 1, 2, or 5 mg of roasted peanut, egg white, or spinach extract, with or without cholera toxin, two or four times at weekly intervals. Peanut was the most potent antigen in eliciting allergic antibody responses, followed by egg white and spinach. Differences among antibody responses to allergens and non-allergens were greatest at low doses over a shorter dosing regimen. Alternatively, animals were orally exposed once to various food extracts or purified soluble or encapsulated ovalbumin prior to parenteral immunization to gauge induction of oral tolerance. Tolerance was observed in animals exposed to soluble ovalbumin, but not encapsulated ovalbumin or peanut extract. These differences appear to be related to digestibility or solubility, as indicated by the lack of oral tolerance to proteins known to be indigestible (peanut) or rendered indigestible by encapsulation (ovalbumin). Allergic antibody responses in mice orally exposed to food extracts with cholera toxin also reflect differences in digestibility observed for these antigens, and parallel allergic responses observed in humans. Oral administration of proteins with adjuvant to mice may be a good model for predicting allergenicity of novel proteins. (This abstract does not reflect EPA policy.)