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Increased Antibody Production against Gut‐Colonizing Escherichia coli in the Presence of the Anaerobic Bacterium Peptostreptococcus
Author(s) -
M. Verónica Herías,
Tore Midtvedt,
Lars Å. Hanson,
Agnes E. Wold
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3083.1998.00401.x
Subject(s) - peptostreptococcus , microbiology and biotechnology , obligate anaerobe , biology , escherichia coli , antibody , antigen , immunoglobulin g , lactobacillus acidophilus , anaerobic bacteria , obligate , bacteria , immunology , biochemistry , probiotic , ecology , genetics , gene
Germ‐free rats were colonized with E. coli alone, or with E. coli plus Lactobacillus acidophilus and a strain of the obligate anaerobic Gram‐positive species, Peptostreptococcus . The presence of Peptostreptococcus reduced translocation of E. coli, but increased the serum antibody response to E. coli antigen. Whereas the immunoglobulin G (IgG) anti‐ E. coli antibodies largely represented cross‐reactive antibodies, those of the immunoglobulin M (IgM) isotype represented true anti‐ E. coli antibodies because they could not be absorbed by L. acidophilus or Peptostreptococcus but could with E. coli . We suggest that peptostreptococci prime the gut immune system to other bacterial antigens and that this could be a mechanism behind the reduced translocation of facultative anaerobes in the presence of obligate anaerobes.