• Plos One · Jan 2014

    Vitamin A supplementation in early life enhances the intestinal immune response of rats with gestational vitamin A deficiency by increasing the number of immune cells.

    • Xia Liu, Ting Cui, Yingying Li, Yuting Wang, Qinghong Wang, Xin Li, Yang Bi, Xiaoping Wei, Lan Liu, Tingyu Li, and Jie Chen.
    • Children's Nutrition Research Center, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Key Laboratory of Pediatrics in Chongqing, CSTC2009 CA5002, Chongqing International Science and Technology Cooperation Center for Child Development and Disorders, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400014, P.R. China.
    • Plos One. 2014 Jan 1;9(12):e114934.

    AbstractVitamin A is a critical micronutrient for regulating immunity in many organisms. Our previous study demonstrated that gestational or early-life vitamin A deficiency decreases the number of immune cells in offspring. The present study aims to test whether vitamin A supplementation can restore lymphocyte pools in vitamin A-deficient rats and thereby improve the function of their intestinal mucosa; furthermore, the study aimed to identify the best time frame for vitamin A supplementation. Vitamin A-deficient pregnant rats or their offspring were administered a low-dose of vitamin A daily for 7 days starting on gestational day 14 or postnatal day 1, day 14 or day 28. Serum retinol concentrations increased significantly in all four groups that received vitamin A supplementation, as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. The intestinal levels of secretory immunoglobulin A and polymeric immunoglobulin receptor increased significantly with lipopolysaccharide challenge in the rats that received vitamin A supplementation starting on postnatal day 1. The rats in this group had higher numbers of CD8+ intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes, CD11C+ dendritic cells in the Peyer's patches and CD4+CD25+ T cells in the spleen compared with the vitamin A-deficient rats; flow cytometric analysis also demonstrated that vitamin A supplementation decreased the number of B cells in the mesenteric lymph nodes. Additionally, vitamin A supplementation during late gestation increased the numbers of CD8+ intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes and decreased the numbers of B lymphocytes in the mesenteric lymph nodes. However, no significant differences in lymphocyte levels were found between the rats in the other two vitamin A supplement groups and the vitamin A-deficient group. In conclusion, the best recovery of a subset of lymphocytes in the offspring of gestational vitamin A-deficient rats and the greatest improvement in the intestinal mucosal immune response are achieved when vitamin A supplementation occurs during the early postnatal period.

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