Polymeric Delivery Systems as a Potential Vaccine against Visceral Leishmaniasis: Formulation Development and Immunogenicity.

Recent studies suggest that the association of antigens in microparticles increases the anti-Leishmania vaccine immunogenicity. This study aims to investigate the in situ effect of the adjuvant performance consisting of chitosan-coated poly(D,L-lactic) acid submicrometric particles (SMP) and analyze the inflammatory profile and toxicity. Two formulations were selected, SMP1, containing poly(D,L-lactide) (PLA) 1% wt/v and chitosan 1% wt/v; and SMP2, containing PLA 5% wt/v and chitosan 5% wt/v. After a single dose of the unloaded SMP1 or SMP2 in mice, the SMPs promoted cell recruitment without tissue damage. In addition, besides the myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity having demonstrated similar results among the analyzed groups, a progressive reduction in the levels of N-acetyl-ß-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) until 72 h was observed for SMPs. While IL-6 levels were similar among all the analyzed groups along the kinetics, only the SMPs groups had detectable levels of TNF-α. Additionally, the Leishmania braziliensis antigen was encapsulated in SMPs (SMP1Ag and SMP2Ag), and mice were vaccinated with three doses. The immunogenicity analysis by flow cytometry demonstrated a reduction in NK (CD3-CD49+) cells in all the SMPs groups, in addition to impairment in the T cells subsets (CD3+CD4+) and CD3+CD8+) and B cells (CD19+) of the SMP2 group. The resulting data demonstrate that the chitosan-coated SMP formulations stimulate the early events of an innate immune response, suggesting their ability to increase the immunogenicity of co-administered Leishmania antigens.

Setting the proportion of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells co-cultured with canine macrophages infected with Leishmania chagasi.

New methods for evaluating the canine immune system are necessary, not only to monitor immunological disorders, but also to provide insights for vaccine evaluations and therapeutic interventions, reducing the costs of assays using dog models, and provide a more rational way for analyzing the canine immune response. The present study intended to establish an in vitro toll to assess the parasitological/immunological status of dogs, applicable in pre-clinical trials of vaccinology, prognosis follow-up and therapeutics analysis of canine visceral leishmaniasis. We have evaluated the performance of co-culture systems of canine Leishmania chagasi-infected macrophages with different cell ratios of total lymphocytes or purified CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cells. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from uninfected dogs were used for the system set up. Employing the co-culture systems of L. chagasi-infected macrophages and purified CD4(+) or CD8(+) T-cell subsets we observed a microenvironment compatible with the expected status of the analyzed dogs. In this context, it was clearly demonstrated that, at this selected T-cell:target ratio, the adaptive immune response of uninfected dogs, composed by L. chagasi-unprimed T-cells was not able to perform the in vitro killing of L. chagasi-infected macrophages. Our data demonstrated that the co-culture system with T-cells from uninfected dogs at 1:5 and 1:2 ratio did not control the infection, yielding to patent in vitro parasitism (≥ 80%), low NO production (≤ 5 µM) and IL-10 modulated (IFN-γ/IL-10 ≤ 2) immunological profile in vitro. CD4(+) or CD8(+) T-cells at 1:5 or 1:2 ratio to L. chagasi-infected macrophages seems to be ideal for in vitro assays. This co-culture system may have great potential as a canine immunological analysis method, as well as in vaccine evaluations, prognosis follow-up and therapeutic interventions.

Influence of lipid extraction from different protein sources on in vitro digestibility / Influência da extração de lipídio de diferentes fontes protéicas na digestibilidade in vitro

Proteins are the most abundant macromolecules in living cells and their primary role in the diet is to supply the body with essential amino acids in adequate quantities for the synthesis and maintenance of body tissues. The determination of protein digestibility of foods is an important factor to estimate their quality and the in vitro methodology is a fast and easy way to perform it. This study aimed to determine the influence of lipids on the in vitro digestibility of animal and vegetable proteins. The following protein sources: oat, beef, chicken, fish and pork meats, red beans, milk powder, textured soy protein (TSP), quinoa and five soybean varieties were evaluated. Animal proteins presented higher in vitro values than vegetable proteins, except for the textured soy protein, which presented higher digestibility based on the thermal treatment. In this study, there was no statistic difference between lipid content and protein digestibility. Therefore, there is no need that samples be defatted prior the analysis of the in vitro digestibility, using an enzymatic system containing the enzymes trypsin and pancreatin, which facilitates even more the use of these methods for foods with high lipid levels in food industries.

As proteínas são as macromoléculas mais abundantes nas células vivas, tendo como principal função na dieta suprir o organismo de aminoácidos indispensáveis em quantidades adequadas para síntese e manutenção dos tecidos corporais. Desse modo, a determinação da digestibilidade proteica de um alimento é um fator importante para estimar a sua qualidade, sendo o método in vitro uma alternativa rápida e fácil. Neste trabalho, objetivou-se determinar a influência dos lipídios na digestibilidade in vitro de proteínas de origem animal e vegetal. Foram utilizadas as seguintes fontes de proteína: aveia, carnes: bovina, de frango, de peixe e suína, feijão vermelho, leite em pó, proteína texturizada de soja (PTS), quinoa e cinco variedades de soja. As proteínas de origem animal apresentaram maiores valores de digestibilidade in vitro que as de origem vegetal, exceto a proteína texturizada de soja que apresentou maior digestibilidade, em razão do processamento a que foi submetido. No presente trabalho, não houve diferença estatística entre diferentes conteúdos de lipídios sobre a digestibilidade proteica. Desse modo, sugere-se não ser preciso desengordurar as amostras antes de analisar a digestibilidade in vitro, usando o sistema enzimático contendo as enzimas trispisna e pacreatina, tornando-se ainda mais fácil a utilização desses métodos para alimentos com alto teor de lipídio em indústrias de alimentos.