No abstract

The comparative analysis of T-cell responses during pregnancy in different large animal species supports an increasing role for cells of the innate immune response (NK and gammadelta T cells) and a downregulation of the adaptive immune response with increasingly invasive placentation.

Food allergy is an emerging epidemic that affects all age groups, with the highest prevalence rates being reported amongst Western countries such as the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), and Australia. The development of animal models to test various food allergies has been beneficial in allowing more rapid and extensive investigations into the mechanisms involved in the allergic pathway, such as predicting possible triggers as well as the testing of novel treatments for food allergy. Traditionally, small animal models have been used to characterise immunological pathways, providing the foundation for the development of numerous allergy models. Larger animals also merit consideration as models for food allergy as they are thought to more closely reflect the human allergic state due to their physiology and outbred nature. This paper will discuss the use of animal models for the investigation of the major food allergens; cow's milk, hen's egg, and peanut/other tree nuts, highlight the distinguishing features of each of these models, and provide an overview of how the results from these trials have improved our understanding of these specific allergens and food allergy in general.

It is concluded that this unique population of granulated cells is derived from lymphocytes, and that these cells become metabolically active from mid- to late-pregnancy and may play a physiological role during pregnancy or birth. In contrast, the number of nongranulated intraepithelial lymphocytes were suppressed throughout pregnancy and they probably do not play a role in pregnancy.