Free Amino Acids in Human Milk and Associations With Maternal Anthropometry and Infant Growth.

OBJECTIVES: Free glutamic acid has an appetite-regulating effect and studies with infant formula have suggested that free amino acids (FAA), especially glutamic acid, can downregulate intake. The content of glutamic acid and glutamine is high in breast milk but varies considerably between mothers. The aim was to investigate whether maternal anthropometry was associated with the content of the FAA glutamic acid or glutamine in breast milk and whether there was a negative association between these FAA and current size or early infant growth in fully breastfed infants. METHODS: From a subgroup of 78 mothers, of which 50 were fully breast feeding, from the Odense Child Cohort breast milk samples were collected 4 months after birth and analyzed for FAA. Information regarding breastfeeding status and infant weight and length was also recorded. RESULTS: There was a large variation in the concentration of the FAAs between mothers. Glutamic acid was positively correlated with mother's prepregnancy weight and height (P ≤ 0.028), but not body mass index. There was no negative correlation between the 2 FAA and infant weight or body mass index. Infant length at 4 months was, however, positively associated with glutamine, (P = 0.013) but the correlation was attenuated when controlling for birth length (P = 0.089). CONCLUSIONS: The hypothesis that a high content of glutamic acid and glutamine in breast milk could downregulate milk intake to a degree affecting early growth could not be confirmed. Maternal factors associated with the level of these FAA in milk and the potential effect on the infant should be investigated further.

The sensitising capacity of intact ß-lactoglobulin is reduced by co-administration with digested ß-lactoglobulin.

BACKGROUND: It is generally believed that protein hydrolysis in the gastrointestinal tract decreases the allergenicity of food allergens. However, it remains unknown if specific properties of digestion products determine whether a sensitisation or tolerogenic immune response will develop. We sought to examine the sensitising capacity of the cow's milk allergen ß-lactoglobulin (BLG) and digestion products thereof in a Brown Norway (BN) rat model. METHODS: Intact BLG was digested in an in vitro model simulating the gastro-duodenal digestion process and subsequently fractionated by gel permeation chromatography. BN rats were dosed with either PBS, 200 µg of intact BLG, 30 µg of intact BLG, 200 µg of partially digested BLG, 200 µg of digested BLG, or with 200 µg of a fraction of large complexes or a fraction of small complexes. Sera from BN rats were analysed for specific antibodies and avidity was measured. RESULTS: BLG partly resisted the digestion process. However, the BLG molecules that did not survive the digestion process were rapidly broken down to peptides of sizes less than Mr 4,500. Specific antibody responses revealed that both 200 and 30 µg of intact BLG had immunogenic as well as sensitising capacity, while digested BLG could not induce any specific antibodies. Most importantly, while intact BLG showed a significant sensitising capacity when administered alone, this sensitising capacity was significantly reduced when co-administered with digested BLG. CONCLUSIONS: Co-immunisation of intact BLG with digested BLG reduces the sensitising capacity of intact BLG, which could result from tolerogenic mechanisms induced by the digestion products.

The plasma membrane proteome of germinating barley embryos.

Cereal seed germination involves a complex coordination between different seed tissues. Plasma membranes must play crucial roles in coordination and execution of germination; however, very little is known about seed plasma membrane proteomes due to limited tissue amounts combined with amphiphilicity and low abundance of membrane proteins. A fraction enriched in plasma membranes was prepared from embryos dissected from 18 h germinated barley seeds using aqueous two-phase partitioning. Reversed-phase chromatography on C(4) resin performed in micro-spin columns with stepwise elution by 2-propanol was used to reduce soluble protein contamination and enrich for hydrophobic proteins. Sixty-one proteins in 14 SDS-PAGE bands were identified by LC-MS/MS and database searches. The identifications provide new insight into the plasma membrane functions in seed germination.

Conformational stability of calreticulin.

The conformational stability of calreticulin was investigated. Apparent unfolding temperatures (Tm) increased from 31 degrees C at pH 5 to 51 degrees C at pH 9, but electrophoretic analysis revealed that calreticulin oligomerized instead of unfolding. Structural analyses showed that the single C-terminal alpha-helix was of major importance to the conformational stability of calreticulin.

Sialic acid-containing milk proteins show differential immunomodulatory activities independent of sialic acid.

The immunomodulatory activities of four sialic acid-containing milk proteins (kappa-casein, glycomacropeptide, lactoferrin, and proteose peptone-3 component) were determined, and the role of sialic acid was evaluated. Two in vitro models were used: murine splenocyte proliferation, where the effect on LPS-, Con A-, and PHA-stimulated proliferation was studied, and cytokine production in LPS-stimulated murine dendritic cells (DC). All four proteins inhibited LPS-induced splenocyte proliferation, though to different degrees, and independently of sialic acid. kappa-Casein strongly inhibited PHA-induced proliferation and had a weak inhibitory effect on Con A-induced proliferation, whereas lactoferrin stimulated Con A-induced proliferation. kappa-Casein, glycomacropeptide, and lactoferrin differentially affected cytokine production by DC: kappa-casein significantly inhibited production of TNF-alpha, IL-10, -12, -6, and -1beta, independent of sialic acid, whereas less-marked effects of glycomacropeptide and lactoferrin were seen. These findings thus point to important immunosuppressive effects of some milk proteins and indicate that they may function via different mechanisms.

Leuconostoc carnosum 4010 has the potential for use as a protective culture for vacuum-packed meats: culture isolation, bacteriocin identification, and meat application experiments.

A new culture, Leuconostoc carnosum 4010, for biopreservation of vacuum-packed meats is described. The culture originated from bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) naturally present in vacuum-packed meat products. Approximately, 72,000 colonies were isolated from 48 different vacuum-packed meat products and examined for antibacterial activity. Bacteriocin-producing colonies were isolated from 46% of the packages examined. Leuc. carnosum was the predominant bacteriocin-producing strain and Leuc. carnosum 4010 was selected for further experiments because it showed strong antilisterial activity without producing any undesirable flavour components in meat products. For identification of the bacteriocins produced, partial purification was carried out by ammonium sulphate precipitation, dialysis, and cation exchange chromatography. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed two bands with inhibitory activity corresponding to molecular sizes of 4.6 and 5.3 kDa. N-terminal amino acid sequencing showed that Leuc. carnosum 4010 produced two bacteriocins highly similar or identical to leucocin A and leucocin C. Application experiments showed that the addition of 10(7) cfu/g Leuc. carnosum 4010 to a vacuum-packaged meat sausage immediately reduced the number of viable Listeria monocytogenes cells to a level below the detection limit and no increase of L. monocytogenes was observed during storage at 5 degrees C for 21 days. The results presented demonstrate that Leuc. carnosum 4010 is suitable as a new protective culture for cold-stored, cooked, sliced, and vacuum-packed meat products.

The impact of structural integrity and route of administration on the antibody specificity against three cow's milk allergens - a study in Brown Norway rats.

BACKGROUND: Characterisation of the specific antibody response, including the epitope binding pattern, is an essential task for understanding the molecular mechanisms of food allergy. Examination of antibody formation in a controlled environment requires animal models. The purpose of this study was to examine the amount and types of antibodies raised against three cow's milk allergens; ß-lactoglobulin (BLG), α-lactalbumin (ALA) and ß-casein upon oral or intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration. A special focus was given to the relative amount of antibodies raised against linear versus conformational epitopes. METHODS: Specific antibodies were raised in Brown Norway (BN) rats. BN rats were dosed either (1) i.p. with the purified native cow's milk allergens or (2) orally with skimmed milk powder (SMP) alone or together with gluten, without the use of adjuvants. The allergens were denatured by reduction and alkylation, resulting in unfolding of the primary structure and a consequential loss of conformational epitopes. The specific IgG1 and IgE responses were analysed against both the native and denatured form of the three cow's milk allergens, thus allowing examination of the relative amount of linear versus conformational epitopes. RESULTS: The inherent capacity to induce specific IgG1 and IgE antibodies were rather similar upon i.p. administration for the three cow's milk allergens, with BLG = ALA > ß-casein. Larger differences were found between the allergens upon oral administration, with BLG > ALA > ß-casein. Co-administration of SMP and gluten had a great impact on the specific antibody response, resulting in a significant reduced amount of antibodies. Together results indicated that most antibodies were raised against conformational epitopes irrespectively of the administration route, though the relative proportions between linear and conformational epitopes differed remarkably between the allergens. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the three-dimensional (3D) structure has a significant impact on the antibodies raised for both systemic and orally administered allergens. A remarkable difference in the antibody binding patterns against linear and conformational epitope was seen between the allergens, indicating that the structural characteristics of proteins may heavily affect the induced antibody response.

Digested Ara h 1 loses sensitizing capacity when separated into fractions.

The major peanut allergen Ara h 1 is an easily digestible protein under physiological conditions. The present study revealed that pepsin digestion products of Ara h 1 retained the sensitizing potential in a Brown Norway rat model, while this sensitizing capacity was lost by separating the digest into fractions by gel permeation chromatography. Protein chemical analysis showed that the peptide composition as well as the aggregation profiles of the fractions of Ara h 1 digest differed from that of the whole pool. These results indicate that the sensitizing capacity of digested Ara h 1 is a consequence of the peptides being in an aggregated state resembling the intact molecule or that most peptides of the digests need to be present in the same solution, having a synergistic or adjuvant effect and thereby augmenting the immune response against other peptides.

The panel of egg allergens, Gal d 1-Gal d 5: Their improved purification and characterization.

Egg proteins represent one of the most important sources evoking food allergic reactions. In order to improve allergy diagnosis, purified and well-characterized proteins are needed. Although the egg white allergens Gal d 1, 2, 3 and 4 (ovomucoid, ovalbumin, ovotransferrin, and lysozyme) are commercially available, these preparations contain impurities, which affect exact in vitro diagnosis. The aim of the present study was to set up further purification protocols and to extend the characterization of the physicochemical and immunological properties of the final batches. The egg white allergens Gal d 1-4 were purified from commercial preparations, whereas Gal d 5 (alpha-livetin) was purified from egg yolk. The final batches of Gal d 1-5 consisted of a range of isoforms with defined tertiary structure. In addition, the IgE binding capacity of the purified egg allergens was tested using allergic patients' sera. The allergen batches will be further used to set up allergen specific diagnostic assays and to screen a larger collection of patients' sera.

One-step affinity purification of recombinant urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor using a synthetic peptide developed by combinatorial chemistry.

Several lines of evidence have pointed to a role of urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) as a modulator of certain biochemical processes that are active during tumor invasion and metastasis. Consequently, the structure and function of this receptor have been studied extensively, using recombinantly produced uPAR that has been purified by either affinity chromatography using its cognate ligand, the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), or a monoclonal anti-uPAR antibody (R2), or by hydroxyapatite. Here, we present a new method for the efficient one-step affinity purification of recombinant uPAR exploiting a high-affinity synthetic peptide antagonist (AE152). The corresponding parent peptide was originally identified in a random phage-display library and subsequently subjected to affinity maturation by combinatorial chemistry. This study compares the affinity purification of a soluble, recombinant uPAR using the monoclonal antibody R2 or the peptide AE152 immobilized on Sepharose. The two affinity ligands perform equally well in purifying uPAR from Drosophila melanogaster Schneider 2 cell culture medium and yield products of comparable purity, activity, and stability as judged by SDS-PAGE, size exclusion chromatography and surface plasmon resonance analysis. The general availability of peptide synthesis renders the present AE152-based affinity purification of uPAR more accessible than the traditional protein-based affinity purification strategies. In this way, large amounts of recombinant uPAR can conveniently be purified for further structural and functional studies.

Enrichment and identification of integral membrane proteins from barley aleurone layers by reversed-phase chromatography, SDS-PAGE, and LC-MS/MS.

The plasma membrane of the cereal aleurone layer is the site of perception of germination signals and release of enzymes to the starchy endosperm. Analysis of membrane proteins is challenging due to their hydrophobicity and low abundance; thus, little is known about the membrane proteins involved in seed germination. A membrane fraction highly enriched for the plasma membrane H+-ATPase was prepared from barley aleurone layers by aqueous two-phase partitioning. Because detergent and salt washes did not efficiently remove soluble proteins from the membrane preparations, an alternative procedure was developed, comprising batch reversed-phase chromatography with stepwise elution of hydrophobic proteins by 2-propanol. Proteins in the most hydrophobic fraction were separated by SDS-PAGE and identified by LC-MS/MS and barley EST sequence database search. The method was efficient for enrichment of integral membrane proteins with relatively low levels of soluble contaminating proteins. Forty-six proteins associated with barley aleurone plasma membranes were identified, including proteins with more than 10 transmembrane domains. Among the identified proteins were two new isoforms of the plasma membrane H+-ATPase, two proteins possibly involved in ion-channel regulation, and two proteins of unknown function. This represents the first analysis of membrane proteins involved in seed germination using a proteomics approach.

Effect of prior dietary exposure to cows' milk protein on antigen-specific and nonspecific cellular proliferation in mice.

The impact of dietary components on the immune system is gaining increased attention in the effort to develop safe food products, some even with health-promoting potential, as well as to improve the basic understanding of the immunomodulatory potential of common food components. In such studies, which are mainly based on experiments in vitro, it is important to be able to differentiate nonspecific activation of immune cells induced by dietary components from ex vivo restimulation of antigen-specific cells that might be present in cell cultures owing to prior dietary exposure to the antigens in cell donors. Focusing on the immunostimulatory potential of cows' milk proteins and peptides, we studied the impact of prior dietary exposure to cows' milk on proliferation of murine immune cells upon ex vivo stimulation with bovine milk proteins. Nonspecific proliferation induced by beta-casein peptides was further assessed on cells from mice bred on a cows'-milk-free diet. Regarding the dietary effect, we found that prior oral intake of cows' milk proteins affected cell proliferation induced by culturing with cows' milk proteins in vitro, as spleen cells from mice fed a milk-containing diet showed a significantly greater proliferative response than did cells from mice bred on a cows'-milk-free diet. Studies of immune enhancing potentials of beta-casein peptides showed that some peptides stimulate proliferation of immune cells nonspecifically. In conclusion, these findings stress the importance of employing immune cells from mice unexposed to cows' milk for studies of the immunomodulating capacity of cows' milk proteins and peptides, in order to rule out the interference caused by antigen-specific immune responses. By using such cells, we here show that some beta-casein peptides possess the potential to induce proliferation in immune cells in a nonspecific manner.

Effect of maternal dietary cow's milk on the immune response to beta-lactoglobulin in the offspring: a four-generation study in mice.

BACKGROUND: Evaluation of immune responses to food proteins in animal models requires that the animals are not already sensitized or orally tolerized against the proteins in question. Since maternal transfer of specific immune responses has been observed, breeding of animals on an antigen-free diet for several generations may be necessary to obtain immunologically naive animals. METHODS: To determine the most appropriate breeding conditions of mice to be used in immunological studies on food proteins, we examined immune responses towards beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) in mice bred on a milk-containing diet (F0) and then for three generations (F1-F3) on a commercially available milk-free diet. The specific antibody and cell-proliferative response to BLG was compared in non-immunized and immunized BALB/c mice, and in mice orally tolerized to BLG prior to immunization. RESULTS: The immune response to BLG in the F1 generation deviated from the response observed in the F0 and F2/F3 generations. Importantly, trace amounts of BLG detected in the commercial milk-free diet did not induce oral tolerance. CONCLUSIONS: The study showed that breeding mice on an antigen-free diet for at least two generations is required to attain animals appropriate for immunological studies of food proteins. Although the small quantity of BLG in the milk-free diet did not induce detectable oral tolerance in the present study, it is strongly recommended that the potential effect of contaminating dietary antigen is considered in future studies on food proteins.

Lipopolysaccharide contamination of beta-lactoglobulin affects the immune response against intraperitoneally and orally administered antigen.

BACKGROUND: Microbial components in the environment are potent activators of the immune system with capacity to shift the active immune response towards priming of Th1 and/or Th2 cells. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a cell-wall component of Gram-negative bacteria, is extensively present in food products like cow's milk. It is not well established, however, how this presence of LPS affects oral tolerance induction. METHODS: We studied the effect of LPS contamination in a commercial preparation of the cow milk protein beta-lactoglobulin (beta-LG) on antigen-specific immune responses. IgG1/IgG2a production upon intraperitoneal immunization without adjuvant was measured, and oral tolerance induction against beta-LG after administration of either an aqueous solution or water-in-oil (w/o) emulsion of beta-LG was evaluated. RESULTS: LPS contamination of beta-LG provoked a beta-LG-specific IgG2a response, as well as an enhanced beta-LG-specific IgG1 response upon intraperitoneal immunization. Oral tolerance induction to beta-LG was induced by aqueous solutions of beta-LG with and without LPS administration. Conversely, oral administration of w/o-emulsified beta-LG prevented oral tolerance to beta-LG only when the beta-LG was contaminated with LPS. CONCLUSIONS: LPS contamination of an aqueous protein solution does not affect oral tolerance induction, whereas LPS present in emulsion prevents oral tolerance induction towards the food protein.

Immunostimulatory potential of beta-lactoglobulin preparations: effects caused by endotoxin contamination.

BACKGROUND: The immunomodulating potential residing in cow's milk proteins is currently receiving increasing attention because of growing interest in functional foods and the complex problem of cow's milk allergy. One of the major cow's milk allergens, whey protein beta-lactoglobulin, has previously been shown to mediate cellular activation in both human and murine immune cells. OBJECTIVE: We examined the response to different beta-lactoglobulin preparations in naive immune cells. METHODS: Splenocytes and cells from mesenteric lymph nodes derived from BALB/c mice bred and maintained on a milk-free diet were cultured in vitro with different beta-lactoglobulin preparations. Cell proliferation, cytokine production, and increases in intracellular glutathione were used as cellular activation markers. Moreover, the effect of beta-lactoglobulin on cytokine production in murine bone-marrow-derived dendritic cells was examined. RESULTS: We observed that some commercial beta-lactoglobulin preparations induced pronounced proliferation of both spleen cells and cells from mesenteric lymph nodes; production of TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-1beta, and IL-10; and an increased level of intracellular glutathione in spleen cell cultures. Furthermore, TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-1beta, and IL-10 production was induced in murine bone-marrow-derived dendritic cells. Purification of beta-lactoglobulin from raw milk using nondenaturating conditions, however, revealed that the beta-lactoglobulin per se did not possess the immunomodulatory activity. Eventually, the immunostimulatory effect was found to be caused by endotoxin contamination. CONCLUSION: These results identify endotoxin as the main immunostimulatory component present in some commercial beta-lactoglobulin preparations. Moreover, the present study makes it evident that immunomodulatory effects attributed to beta-lactoglobulin need to be reassessed.

Efficacy and compatibility with mass spectrometry of methods for elution of proteins from sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels and polyvinyldifluoride membranes.

The resolving power of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) combined with isoelectric focusing in two-dimensional gel electrophoresis has made it one of the most important techniques for resolving complex mixtures, and it is of great importance for proteome mapping projects. As a result of this, methods for postelectrophoretic protein characterization are of great interest as exemplified by in situ protease digestion combined with mass spectrometry (MS), which is the method of choice for identification of proteins. In this study we have developed and compared methods for recovering intact proteins from polyacrylamide gels and electroblotting membranes to define efficient methods compatible with MS. These methods complement in situ digestion protocols and allow determination of the molecular mass of whole proteins separated by SDS-PAGE. Passive elution of proteins from SDS-PAGE gels was efficient only in the presence of SDS, whereas electroelution was achieved using buffers without SDS. Surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization MS (SELDI-MS) analysis of proteins eluted in the presence of SDS was possible using ion exchange ProteinChip arrays for concentration of sample and removal of SDS. Comparison of different electroblotting methods verified that the different membranes and buffers were equally efficient for transfer of proteins in the range 20-100 kDa. Elution from polyvinyldifluoride membranes was most efficient using either concentrated solutions of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) or combinations of 8M urea and 1% Triton X-100, 1% Tween 20, or 40% isopropanol. The same result was obtained using nitrocellulose membranes, except that these were incompatible with organic solvent and TFA. Elution by TFA was compatible with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization MS (MALDI-MS) but was complicated by a high degree of trifluoroacetylation of the proteins. Alternatively, elution by 8M urea+1% Triton X-100, 1% Tween 20, or 40% isopropanol was compatible with both SELDI-MS and MALDI-MS. Eluted proteins were identified in MS experiments by intact mass determination, by peptide mapping, and by MS/MS analysis.