Oral administration of bovine milk from cows hyperimmunized with intestinal bacterin stimulates lamina propria T lymphocytes to produce Th1-biased cytokines in mice.

The goal of this study was to examine the effects of oral administration of bovine milk from cows hyperimmunized with a proprietary bacterin (immune milk "Sustaina") on mucosal immunity in the intestine of adult mice. C57BL/6 mice were orally given immune or control milk for two weeks, and then lymphocyte population and the cytokine production in lamina propria of colon in normal mice and mice induced colitis by dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) were detected. We found that the levels of IFN-γ and IL-10 increased, but the levels of IL-17A and IL-4, decreased in lamina propria of colon in immune milk-fed mice as compared with those in control milk-fed mice. Interestingly, oral administration of immune milk partially improved the acute colitis induced by DSS. The levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ increased, but IL-6, IL-17A and IL-4 decreased in lamina propria (LP) of colon in immune milk-fed mice with DSS-induced colitis. Our results suggest that immune milk may stimulate CD4+ T cells to polarize towards a Th1 type response, but contrarily suppress Th17 and Th2 cells responses in large intestinal LP of mice. The results indicate that this kind of immune milk has is able to promote the maintainance of intestinal homeostasis and enhance protection against infection, and could alleviate the symptoms of acute colitis in mice.