• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.47-53
• /
• 1999

The effects of methidathion on humoral immune response were studied in BALB/c mice. 0.5 or 5.0 mg/kg/day methidathion were administered orally for 14 days. The parameters examined to assess apparent toxicity of methidathion included changes of body weight, relative weight of spleen, thymus, sidney and liver, and viable spllenic cell numbers. To evaluate the humoral immune response, thymus, kidney and liver, and viable splenic cell numbers. To evaluate the humoral immune resopnse, the plaque forming cell(PFC) responses sheep the red blood cells (SRBC) and the lovels of serum IgG to hen egg lysozyme (HEL) were determined. No alterations were observed in changes of body weights, relative organ weights and the numbers of viable splenocytes by exposure to any dose of methidathion. At the dose of 0.5mg/kg only PFC response was decreased, whereas both PFC response and the level of serum IgG were decreased significantly at the dose of 5.0 mg/kg. These results indicate that exposure to methidathion may cause sup[pression of humoral immune reponse in mice without overt changed in lymphoid organ weight or viability of splenocytes.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.35.1-35.13
• /
• 2020

Antigen delivery systems play critical roles in determining the quality and quantity of Ab responses in vivo. Induction of protective antibodies by B cells is essential in the development of vaccines against infectious pathogens, whereas production of IgE antibodies is prerequisite for investigation of allergic responses, or type 1 hypersensitivity reactions. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are efficient platforms for expression of proteins of interest in highly repetitive manners, which grants strong Ab responses to target antigens. Here, we report that delivery of hen egg lysozyme (HEL), a model allergen, through VLP could provoke strong HEL specific IgE Ab responses in mice. Moreover, acute allergic responses were robustly induced in the mice sensitized with VLPs that express HEL, when challenged with recombinant HEL protein. Our data show that antigen delivery in the context of VLPs could function as a platform for sensitization of mice and for subsequent examination of allergic reactions to molecules of interest.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
• /
• v.7 no.2
• /
• pp.139-145
• /
• 2002

Hen egg-white lysozyme, ovalbumin, egg-yolk phosvitin, acid-precipitated soy protein and $\alpha$$_{sl}$ milk casein were covalently linked with galactomannan through a controlled dry-heating at 6$0^{\circ}C$ under 79% relative humidity without any chemical reagent. Neoglycosylation by the covalent binding of polysaccharide chains brought a significant improvement into the surface functionalities of food proteins. Excellent emulsifying properties and foaming properties were observed in all protein-galactomannan conjugates. Bacterial mutagenesis tests and animal dose test were done to evaluate the food safety of the protein-galactomannan conjugates. The neo-glycoproteins were negative for Ames test using Salmonella typhimurium TA100 (hisG46) and TA98 (hisD3052) strains, and rec-assay using Bacillus subtilis Hl7 (rec) and M45 (re $c^{+}$) strains. All substances were also nontoxic for oral administration to rats. L $D_{50}$ 's of these substances were all more than 7.5 g/kg body-weight of rat. No effect was also observed in the weight increases and the concentrations of total cholesterol, triglyceride and phospholipids in blood serum of the administrated rats with 7.5 g/kg conjugates. Thus, Maillard-type protein-polysaccharide conjugates prepared by covalent attachment of galactomannan to food proteins were proposed to be useful as a safe functional biopolymer in this study.y.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.44 no.7
• /
• pp.517-528
• /
• 2021

A recent genetic study with Brucella abortus revealed the secretion activator gene A (SagA) as an autolysin component creating pores in the peptidoglycan (PGN) layer for the type IV secretion system (T4SS) and peptidoglycan hydrolase inhibitor A (PhiA) as an inhibitor of SagA. In this study, we determined the crystal structures of both SagA and PhiA. Notably, the SagA structure contained a PGN fragment in a space between the N- and C-terminal domains, showing the substrate-dependent hinge motion of the domains. The purified SagA fully hydrolyzed the meso-diaminopimelic acid (DAP)-type PGN, showing a higher activity than hen egg-white lysozyme. The PhiA protein exhibiting tetrameric assembly failed to inhibit SagA activity in our experiments. Our findings provide implications for the molecular basis of the SagA-PhiA system of B. abortus. The development of inhibitors of SagA would further contribute to controlling brucellosis by attenuating the function of T4SS, the major virulence factor of Brucella.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.30 no.4
• /
• pp.976-982
• /
• 1998

The effects of the glycoprotein (PAG) isolated from Pteridium aquilinum on the immune function was examined in mice. PAG was intraperitoneally administered into BALB/C mice for 14 days and the antibody forming ability to hen egg lysozyme (HEL) and the blastogenic responses of splenocytes were measured. PAG treatment significantly increased antibody formation to HEL in a dose-dependent manner. Blatogenesis of splenocytes in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS, B-cell specific mitogen) or phytohemagglutinin (PHA, T-cell specific mitogen) was also increased after treatment with PAG, indicating that the PAG increases both humoral and cellular immunities. To examine whether the immune function of PAG was via a direct effect on the lymphocytes, splenocytes were isolated from BALB/C mice, exposed to various concentrations of PAG in vitro and the blastogenic responses were measured. In vitro exposure to PAG significantly increased blastogenesis of splenocytes to LPS up to $500{\;}{\mu}g/kg$, whereas the blastogenic response to PHA was not altered by PAG treatment. To identify the fraction responsible for the increase in the immune function, the effect of periodate digest, pronase digest or purified polysaccharide on the antibody production to HEL was examined. Crude protein fraction of PAG significantly increased the antibody formation to HEL. On the other hand, both crude and purified polysaccharide fractions did not have any effects on the antibody production ability. These data indicated that 1) PAG increased both humoral and cellular immune functions, 2) the increase in humoral immunity was probably via a direct action of PAG on lymphocytes and 3) the protein portion of PAG was responsible for the increase in humoral immunity.