The immunological response to dietary proteins in cats

Abstract

Allergic reactions to food are common in human and veterinary medicine. The objective of this research is to characterize the immune response of healthy cats to their basal diet and to a novel introduced dietary protein. Besides this, the effects of heating (processing) on antigenic potential have been studied. Two groups of each eight domestic shorthair cats participated in this study. During four weeks one group was fed a basal diet with raw hemp seed (novel protein), the other group was fed a basal diet and hemp seed heated together. SDS page was used to investigate the protein content of both diets, and Western blot was used to investigate the immune response to proteins in the basal diet, hemp seed and heated hemp diet. The SDS page of hemp seed showed distinct bands (50 kDa,46 kDa,33 kDa,31 kDa and 19 kDa), but no distinct bands could be seen for the two diets. Western blot showed no antibody binding. This could be due to lack of antibody, but probably errors in the process caused this failure. More research is necessary to investigate which specific dietary proteins stimulate antibody production. Many of the methods should be refined to provide a scientifically significant evidence for the antibodies produced by cats as a response to specific contents of their food.