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12th International Symposium on Bioluminescence & Chemiluminescence |
Symposium abstracts:
Brovko, Lubov1,2, Vandenende, Chris1, Chu, Byron1,
Ng, Kwok-Yu1, Brooks, Andrew3, Griffiths, Mansel1,2
1. Department of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1,
Canada
E-mail: lbrovko@uoguelph.ca
2. Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
3. Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
Milk components are known to have a variety of biological functions in addition to basic nutritional properties including opioid, antimutagenic and immunomodulatory activity. In our previous research it was shown that cell-free fractions of fermented milks enhanced cytokine production of macrophages in vitro. To establish the biological relevance of this phenomenon, an in vivo model has been proposed to assess the effect of fermented milk and its components on course of infection in mice.
Following a period of feeding with the milk or milk component being examined, the mice were challenged with a bioluminescent strain of Salmonella Enteritidis carrying the full lux gene cassette from Photorhabdus luminescens. The whole live mice were imaged using a CCD camera (Night Owl LB 981, EG&G Berthold). Colonization of the gastrointestinal tract and subsequent infection of the mice was monitored in real-time by bioluminescent imaging followed by hystological/bacteriological investigation.
It was shown that uptake of fermented milk and its cell-free fraction substantially slowed down infection and the use of bioluminescent pathogens is a promising tool for assessing the effect of foods on course of model infection in live animals. It allows results to be obtained much faster and without sacrificing a lot of animals.
This
is a preprint of an article accepted for publication in Luminescence: Copyright
2001 John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd (Wiley website)