The Effect of Malnutrition on the Inflammatory Response

Abstract

In the present experiments, Selye's granuloma pouch technique was applied to the study of the effect of host nutritional state on inflammation and the local tissue response. The normal response of well-nourished laboratory rats fed a diet containing 28% protein to the injection of 1% croton oil into a preformed subcutaneous air sac involved the accumulation of hemorrhagic exudate in the pouch lumen and the progressive thickening of the pouch wall, with the proliferation and maturation of fibroblasts and the eventual laying-down of collagen. In malnourished animals, fed a diet containing only 3–4% protein but adequate in all other nutrients, the above reactions were inhibited. This inhibitory effect was encountered after a relatively short period of deficiency and became more marked as the deficiency progressed. No consistent, clear-cut difference was seen in the leukocytic or neutrophilic response between the two dietary groups after the injection of 1% croton oil. A significantly higher proportion of accidental bacterial infections was found in the pouches of malnourished animals than in those of well-nourished animals. This was considered to be a possible consequence of the depressed inflammatory response in malnourished rats. The advantages of the granuloma pouch as an experimental procedure for the study of local reactions to different noxae, and the influence of malnutrition on these reactions have been discussed and suggestions for future studies presented.

Intradermal air pouch leukocytosis as an in vivo test for nanoparticles

“…2 Subsequently, Selye's granuloma pouch model was used to study other forms of immunomodulation, for example, by malnutrition and other noxae. 3 Another historical example of air pouch use was the isolation of a tumor angiogenesis factor (TAF) from Walker tumor-elicited ascitic fluid and the demonstration of its angiogenic effect in the rat dorsal air sac assay. 4 The first use of the air pouch model to study infection and inflammation was also a half century ago.…”

INCAP Studies of Nutrition and Infection

“…Méndez et al subjected 10 male subjects to artificial hyperpyrexia simulating that used in the treatment of syphilis and observed a highly significant decrease in serum vitamin A levels, but no changes in the levels of carotene, vitamin E, alkaline phosphatase, riboflavin, or ascorbic acid [169]. Although most of INCAP's work on malnutrition and infection was in humans, very interesting papers by Taylor et al in 1967 and showed that an induced inflammatory response to croton oil in a granular pouch was reduced in rats on a low-protein diet [170,171].…”

Effects of Fetal Programming in the Inflammatory Response in Wistar Rats: A Systematic Review

“…Maternal malnutrition during gestation and lactation may result in endocrine immune dysfunction in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, permanently altering the adrenocorticotrophic and glucocorticoid hormones concentration, which promote changes in the leptin levels during acute and chronic inflammations, contributing affecting the endocrine and immunologic systems (Barjafidalgo et al, 2003). Taylor et al (1967) studied the effects of intrauterine malnutrition on the intensity of inflammatory response and concluded that the reticuloendothelial system is depressed, lessening the quality with which macrophages are formed in various tissues. The local inflammatory response was greatly influenced by malnourishment; there was a delay in tissue repair in rats, as the nourished animals exudate presented fibroblasts with collagen deposits -which was not found in the malnourished animals exudate.…”