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Background: The purpose of this work was to investigate the effects of early low-level exposure to either antigen or antibody alone on subsequent immune responses in entirely immunologically naïve animals. This is impossible in species with a permeable placenta such as rodents or humans, where both antigen and antibody can be transferred in utero. It is, however, possible in pigs, due to the impermeable placenta of the sow. Thus, neonatal piglets were used for this study., Methods: Newborn piglets were exposed to ovalbumin (OVA) at dosages similar to those used in rodents to sensitise, as well as to serum containing anti-OVA antibodies., Results: Both single low doses of OVA (10 and 1,000 mg per animal) induced classical oral tolerance following a systemic challenge: both doses reduced specific systemic IgG responses and tertiary in vitro recall proliferative responses by splenocytes and especially by mesenteric lymph node (MLN) cells. Additionally, dietary challenge had phenotypic effects on helper T cells in MLN, which could be reversed by OVA at birth. In contrast, giving antibody as serum collected from hyperimmune or orally tolerant pigs had no functional effects., Conclusions: Overall, our data support the hypothesis that contrary to previous work in rodents, very early exposure of neonatal pigs to a single small dose of antigen can reduce subsequent immune responses. This may have implications for human health. However, although these data point to a reducing/regulatory effect of low doses of antigen in very young animals, they cannot be extrapolated directly to allergy., ((c) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

The mucosal immune system expresses active responses against pathogens and also tolerance against harmless food and commensal bacterial antigens. The mechanisms that determine which of these outcomes occur after recognition of antigens by T-cells are not clear. One possibility is that it is determined by the initial interaction between a dendritic and a naïve T-cell in organised lymphoid tissue. However, such organised structures are, evolutionarily, quite recent and the original immune system must have made appropriate responses in more diffuse immunological architecture; a second possibility is that the critical interaction is between primed T-cells and their environment, in the lamina propria of the intestine. The mucosal immune system of neonates is poorly developed and inefficient at expressing appropriate immune responses. Development is influenced by a range of environmental factors including maternally derived antigen or antibody and commensal flora and pathogens. The intestine is a complex immunological structure in which the immune system and the macro- and microenvironment interact.

Early-life exposure to appropriate microbial flora drives expansion and development of an efficient immune system. Aberrant development results in increased likelihood of allergic disease or increased susceptibility to infection. Thus, factors affecting microbial colonization may also affect the direction of immune responses in later life. There is a need for a manipulable animal model of environmental influences on the development of microbiota and the immune system during early life. We assessed the effects of rearing under low- (farm, sow) and high-hygiene (isolator, milk formula) conditions on intestinal microbiota and immune development in neonatal piglets, because they can be removed from the mother in the first 24 h for rearing under controlled conditions and, due to placental structure, neither antibody nor antigen is transferred in utero. Microbiota in both groups was similar between 2 and 5 days. However, by 12–28 days, piglets reared on the mother had more diverse flora than siblings reared in isolators. Dendritic cells accumulated in the intestinal mucosa in both groups, but more rapidly in isolator piglets. Importantly, the minority of 2–5-day-old farm piglets whose microbiota resembled that of an older (12–28-day-old) pig also accumulated dendritic cells earlier than the other farm-reared piglets. Consistent with dendritic cell control of T cell function, the effects on T cells occurred at later time-points, and mucosal T cells from high-hygiene, isolator pigs made less interleukin (IL)-4 while systemic T cells made more IL-2. Neonatal piglets may be a valuable model for studies of the effects of interaction between microbiota and immune development on allergy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]