Nutrition Research
Volume 30, Issue 1 , Pages 40-48, January 2010

Dietary (1→3), (1→4)-β-d-glucans from oat activate nuclear factor-κB in intestinal leukocytes and enterocytes from mice

  • Julia J. Volman

      Affiliations

    • Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • Ronald P. Mensink

      Affiliations

    • Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • Julian D. Ramakers

      Affiliations

    • Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • Menno P. de Winther

      Affiliations

    • Department of Molecular Genetics, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • Harald Carlsen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Norway
  • ,
  • Rune Blomhoff

      Affiliations

    • Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, Norway
  • ,
  • Wim A. Buurman

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • Jogchum Plat

      Affiliations

    • Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, The Netherlands
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Nutrition and Toxicology Institute Maastricht (NUTRIM), PO Box 616, NL- 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 433881309; fax: +31 433670976.

Received 5 September 2009; received in revised form 24 October 2009; accepted 28 October 2009.

Abstract 

Dietary components, like β-glucans, can modulate the intestinal immune response. We previously showed that fecal water enriched with oat β-glucan stimulated the cytokine-induced immune response of enterocytes. It is, however, unclear whether β-glucans activate nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) pathways in the intestine in vivo and if so, whether enterocytes, intestinal leukocytes, or both respond to β-glucans. We evaluated the effects of an oral gavage of 3 mg dietary oat (1→3), (1→4)-β-d-glucans that was administered twice daily during 3.5 days on intestinal NF-κB transactivation and subsequent cytokine production of intestinal leukocytes and enterocytes in 16 NF-κB reporter mice. We hypothesized that oat β-glucan activates the central immune transcription factor NF-κB and increased cytokine secretion, as we previously reported immune stimulating effects by oat β-glucan. We found that mice that were administered oat β-glucans (n = 8) showed an increased intestinal NF-κB transactivation in leukocytes (P = .021) and enterocytes (P = .012), particularly in the proximal part of the small intestine (ileum), as compared to placebo mice (n = 8). Surprisingly, NF-κB was not activated in the colon. Furthermore, the level of interleukin 12 was increased in intestinal lysates from all compartments, whereas the concentration of interferon γ was decreased in the proximal small intestine (P = .046). Finally, tumor necrosis factor α showed a trend toward a reduced production in the colon (P = .057). Because we have earlier shown that human enterocyte cell lines do not express the β-glucan receptor dectin-1 in vitro, we now conclude that after consumption, dietary oat β-glucans most likely firstly activate the intestinal leukocytes, which in turn increases cellular activation of enterocytes.

Abbreviations: CBA, cytometric bead array, DAPI, 4′,6-diamino-2-phenyl indole, DC, dendritic cell, IFNγ, interferon γ, IL, interleukin, M-cell, microfold-cell, MCP-1, monocyte chemotactic protein-1, NF-κB, nuclear factor-κB, PBS, phosphate buffered saline, SCFA, short chain fatty acids, TNFα, tumor necrosis factor α

Keywords: (1→3), (1→4)-β- d –glucan, Immune response, Mice, NF-κB, Nutrition

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PII: S0271-5317(09)00208-5

doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2009.10.023

Nutrition Research
Volume 30, Issue 1 , Pages 40-48, January 2010