Donkey and Goat Milk Intake and Modulation of the Human Aged Immune Response
In a group of 14 healthy aged subjects, donkey and goat milk was administered respectively, for a period of one month. Cytokine profile [interleukin (IL)-12, IL-10, IL-1β, IL-8, IL-6 and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-α] was assessed before and after milk intake by means of a cytometric bead array test.
Data demonstrated that IL-12 was undetectable, while IL-10, IL-1β and TNF-β were released in very low amounts.
Quite interestingly, IL-8 was increased by donkey milk administration, while same cytokine was dramatically decreased following goat milk intake. Same pattern of response was noted with IL-6 even if levels of these cytokine were lower than those detectable in the case of IL-8.
Taken together, these findings indicate that administration of donkey milk in the aged host is able to upregulate the immune response, while goat milk seems to reduce the exaggerated acute phase response in elderly.
Data demonstrated that IL-12 was undetectable, while IL-10, IL-1β and TNF-β were released in very low amounts.
Quite interestingly, IL-8 was increased by donkey milk administration, while same cytokine was dramatically decreased following goat milk intake. Same pattern of response was noted with IL-6 even if levels of these cytokine were lower than those detectable in the case of IL-8.
Taken together, these findings indicate that administration of donkey milk in the aged host is able to upregulate the immune response, while goat milk seems to reduce the exaggerated acute phase response in elderly.
Keywords: Donkey milk; cytokine; elderly; goat milk; immunosenescence
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: National Institute of Gastroenterology, via Turi 27, 70013 Castellana Grotte (BA), Italy.
Publication date: 01 March 2010
- Current Pharmaceutical Design publishes timely in-depth reviews covering all aspects of current research in rational drug design. Each issue is devoted to a single major therapeutic area. A Guest Editor who is an acknowledged authority in a therapeutic field has solicits for each issue comprehensive and timely reviews from leading researchers in the pharmaceutical industry and academia.
Each thematic issue of Current Pharmaceutical Design covers all subject areas of major importance to modern drug design, including: medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, drug targets and disease mechanism. - Editorial Board
- Information for Authors
- Subscribe to this Title
- Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites
- Access Key
- Free content
- Partial Free content
- New content
- Open access content
- Partial Open access content
- Subscribed content
- Partial Subscribed content
- Free trial content