Diet quality affects allergic peritonitis in mice

Reasons for the increased prevalence of allergies observed in recent decades remain elusive. Here, we used a murine model to investigate the effect of nutrition on ovalbumin-induced allergic peritonitis. Compared to the organs of mice kept on a standard diet, mice exposed to a low quality diet during the growth period showed a decrease in the mass of metabolic (liver and heart) and, to a much larger extent, in lymphatic (thymus and spleen) organs, but not in testes or intestine mass. Moreover, diet manipulation affected the number ofpolymorphonuclear granulocytes as well as mast cell number and/or their responsiveness. During allergic peritonitis, mast cells from animals kept on the standard diet reacted to an allergen with degranulation, while the reaction in mice kept on the low quality diet was significantly weaker. However, the immunomodulators of this process remain unidentified as diet quality affected neither anti-ovalbumin IgE level nor synthesis/release of anti-inflammatory IL-10. Further work is needed to identify underlying immunomodulators.