Evaluation of the allergic response in the offspring born to and breastfed by obese and lean mice exposed to ovalbumin.

• Grant number: 15/18997-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): March 01, 2016
• Effective date (End): August 01, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Maternal and Child Health
• Principal Investigator: Gabriel Forato Anhê
• Grantee: Rodrigo Rodrigues e Lacerda
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 16/22722-6 - Influence of sexual gender on allergic lung inflammation in normolipidic and hyperlipidic mice exposed to ovalbumin, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Breastfeeding is the first contact of the newborn with substances from the environment and nutrients out of the womb. Breast milk is a highly complex mixture, containing nutritional compounds and an array of immunological components. In breastfeeding, the mother provides immunitary modulators that can alter the newborn's response to specific antigens the mother is being exposed to. Such condition has been experimentally demonstrated to antigenic epitopes present in the environment related to respiratory ailments such as allergic asthma, a condition that affects several children worldwide. This acquired process is known as antigenic tolerance and is capable of diminishing the gravity of allergic processes when of later exposures in life. It is yet to be known if a mother with high BMI (body mass index) has any hindering on the tolerance transmission during breastfeeding period, but it is important to stress that pregnancy overweight is a factor more present nowadays, and that such mothers have a different nutritional content in their milk, with high differentiation of cytokines, chemokines and nutrients when compared with normolipidic mothers. Considering that the potential immunitary alterations started by breastfeeding on the newborn related to the mother's characteristics are unknown, as well as related to her nutritional state, as well as the difficulty of experimental comprobation on clinical studies due to the lack of sample homogeneity proves the relevance of this study. An animal model, essential to this purpose for its good reproductive capacity and analytical homogeneity, will be used to evaluate through a series of methods the incidence of asthma in Mus musculus infants either born from or breastfed by obese mothers exposed to ovalbumin during lactation. Later, the litter will be exposed to, sensitized and defied by the same substance, and the presence of asthma indicators will be evaluated by quantitative and qualitative analysis of leukocytes and cytokines on blood samples, bone marrow, and lungs. The mother's milk will also be screened to determine the possible presence immunitary modulators and ovalbumin antigen content. The data will be compared to the responses of litter's breastfed by a mother with normal BMI. We expect that the results will help to understand the influence of maternal characteristics on the infants' immune response, obtain a complete characterization for potential future immunitary assays, as well as the understanding of the particularities of pregnancy overweight, fundamental for clinical practice.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

E-LACERDA, RODRIGO RODRIGUES; TEIXEIRA, CAIO JORDAO; BORDIN, SILVANA; ANTUNES, EDSON; ANHE, GABRIEL FORATO. Maternal Obesity in Mice Exacerbates the Allergic Inflammatory Response in the Airways of Male Offspring. NUTRIENTS, v. 11, n. 12, DEC 2019. (16/22722-6, 17/20742-2, 17/15175-1, 13/07607-8, 15/18997-7)

RODRIGUES E-LACERDA, RODRIGO; ANHE, GABRIEL FORATO; PAGE, CLIVE PETER; RIFFO-VASQUEZ, YANIRA. Sex differences in the influence of obesity on a murine model of allergic lung inflammation. CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGY, v. 50, n. 2, DEC 2019. (16/22722-6, 15/18997-7)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

LACERDA, Rodrigo Rodrigues e. Maternal obesity in mice programs the intensification of allergic response inflammation in the offspring. 2019. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Ciências Médicas Campinas, SP.