The effect of oral pancreatic extract on jejunal bactericidal activity in protein-deficient vervet monkeys challenged with Vibrio cholerae.

Eleven vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) were fed with an "O" protein diet. After the serum albumin level fell below 2.5 g/100 ml the animals and 4 controls, which received regular monkey chow, were orally infected with a monkey-adapted strain of Vibrio cholerae. The total bactericidal activity of the jejunal fluid decreased during feeding with "O" protein diet, but increased after challenge with V. cholerae in all groups. The non-immunoglobulin-bound bactericidal activity, which also decreased during protein depletion, remained less in those animals receiving placebo instead of pancreatic extract after challenge.