Application of in vitro and in vivo models in the study of food allergy (1)
The mechanism of food allergy is shown that it increases the permeability of intestinal epithelial cells to the antigen, thereby affecting the pathway of certain cytokines, and producing a Th2- type inflammatory response. Animal model test is the most direct method to evaluate the potential allergenicity of food while cell model is a more convenient and flexible one.
A list of common allergenic foods, including peanuts, soy, eggs, milk, crustaceans, nuts, wheat, fish etc., more than 90% of the allergic reactions were caused by these 8 common allergens.
Histamine has a short half-life of only a few minutes under physiological conditions, and the release is not stable enough, which leads to instability and poor repeatability of detection results. On the other hand, trypsin is a pre-formed protein enzyme in mast cells, which is released into the medium and involved in an allergic reaction together with other mediators.
Many studies used transfected RBL-2H3 cell models to assess allergies to peanuts, wheat, eggs and milk, and the results were consistent with the results of traditional detection methods (scratch tests). RBL-2H3 cells do not express TLR2 or the TLR4 signal pathway, and some non-immune stimuli can also cause RBL-2H3 cell degranulation.
BALB/c mouse models are more suitable for intraperitoneal injection to determine the intrinsic allergenicity of proteins. Instead, C3H/HeJ mice may be a useful animal model for the study of genetically modified food sensitivity. This model provides more opportunities for further study of food allergy mechanisms as well as the prevention and treatment of allergic diseases.
Zebrafish only have innate immune function during the first week of life, and the specific humoral and cellular immune responses do not develop until 4–6 weeks after fertilization. Therefore, zebrafish are an ideal animal model for elucidating both innate immunity and adaptive immunity.