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Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Isolation and Th17 Differentiation of Naïve CD4 T Lymphocytes
Published on: September 26, 2013
[Effect of lactobacilli on Th1/Th2 cells balance in primary lymphocytes]
Ai-li Li1, Dong-xue Ma, Xiang-chen Meng
1Key Laboratory of Dairy Science, Ministry of Education, Food Science College, Northeast Agriculture University, Harbin 150030, China. aili-mail@163.com
Aim:
To analyse the effect of 7 Lactobacillus species on proliferation and cytokine production of primary lymphocytes, and explored the effect on the Th1/Th2 cells balance.
Methods:
The mouse spleen cells were stimulated with active/heat-killed Lactobacillus strains at different species and concentrations. After be cultured with bacteria 60 hours, the proliferation of splenocytes were tested by MTT colorimetry, and IL-12, IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-10 and TGF-β were detected by ELISA.
Results:
(1) Both alive and heat-killed Lactobacillus species could accelerate the proliferation of spleen cells in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05), the immuneological activity of heat-killed L.fermentum and L.acidophilu were not inferior to the live strains, especially when treated at higher dose(10(7);CFU/mL, bacteria: cell ratio of 10:1). Furthermore, these two heat-killed bacterial strains suppressed IL-4, IL-10 and TGF-β production by stimulating IL-12 and IFN-γ production, and their IFN-γ/IL-4 value which represent the Th1/Th2 balance were higher than ConA control group significantly(P<0.05).
Conclusion:
The results indicate that Lactobacillus strains may differ in their respective ability to improve Th1/Th2 cells balance toward Th1 dominance via increasing the secretion ratio of IFN-γ/IL-4 (Th1/Th2) by splenocytes.
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