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Bifidobacterium breve, included in fermented milk, was tested for adjuvanticity and mitogenicity using cells of mouse Peyer's patch, one of the gut-associated lymphoid tissues. Addition of B. breve enhanced antilipopolysaccharide antibody production in Peyer's patch cells and also anti-sheep red blood cell plaque-forming cells in Peyer's patch cells cultured with sheep red blood cells. Furthermore, addition of B. breve accelerated proliferation of Peyer's patch cells, particularly B cells. In BALB/c mice, enhancement of proliferation by B. breve was also found in Peyer's patch cells from nude mice and a B cell-enriched fraction, including both the B cell fraction and plastic-adherent cells. Enhancement was not found in the fraction in which Sephadex G10-adherent and carbonyl-iron phagocytic cells were excluded from Peyer's patch cells or in a pure B cell fraction in which plastic-adherent cells were excluded from the B cell-enriched fraction of Peyer's patch cells. The proliferation of B cells was enhanced when the supernatant of plastic-adherent cells cultured with B. breve was added. It is concluded that B. breve activated plastic-adherent cells and that these cells secreted a soluble factor that enhanced proliferation of B cells.
Yasui et al. (Mon,) studied this question.