Effects of maternal alcohol consumption on milk and blood lymphocytes and IgG antibody levels from Trichinella spiralis-infected rats.

Immunity to the intestinal parasite Trichinella spiralis can be transferred from the mother to the neonate during lactation. Previous studies in our laboratory showed that the passage of immunity to pups from ethanol-treated dams was depressed. This study examined the effect of ethanol consumption during pregnancy and lactation on the T. spiralis-associated immune components in milk and blood. Groups of female rats were fed either ethanol-containing or isocaloric liquid diets for 30 days before T. spiralis infection, mated and maintained on corresponding diets through pregnancy and lactation. Two-color flow cytometric analysis was performed for lymphocyte populations, enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay for specific IgG, and radial immunodiffusion assay for total IgG. The percentage of total T cells and their subsets, T helper cells and T cytotoxic/suppressor cells in milk and those in blood were similar between pair-fed and ethanol-treated animals. However, the percentage of natural killer cells in milk from ethanol animals was significantly reduced compared with the pair-fed group (33% vs. 54%). The percentage of activated or memory type T helper cell subset (OX2-W3/25+) was significantly increased in the blood of the ethanol-treated group. Pair-fed animals showed higher T. spiralis-specific IgG antibody levels in both in milk and blood compared with ethanol-treated animals. In ethanol-treated animals, specific IgG levels and total IgG concentration in milk were significantly lower than those in blood, whereas in pair-fed animals, only total IgG concentration in milk was lower than that in blood. This study indicates that ethanol consumption during pregnancy and lactation alters the maternal immune system.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)