Effect of gestational zinc deficiency on antibody response.

Abstract

<p>(A) Gestational zinc deficiency decreases the titers of HBsAg-specific IgG in serum. (B) Decrease of HBsAg-specific IgG1 and IgG2a in zinc deficiency offsprings. (C) Prenatal zinc deficiency lessens the IgG2a/IgG1 ratio. For all experiments, serum samples from BALB/c mice fed with different zinc content diets were collected on day 14 after the third HBV vaccination and the concentration of anti-HBs IgG, IgG1 or IgG2a was determined by ELISA using a standard curve generated from serially diluted control anti-HBs antibodies. The data are expressed as mean ± S.D. of 5 animals from one representative experiment. Each experiment was performed 3 times. ZD: pups from the zinc deficiency group; ZS: pups from the zinc supplemented group.</p