Hui-Ju Tsai

Publications (2)3.92 Total impact

• Article: Effects of dietary arginine supplementation on antibody production and antioxidant enzyme activity in burned mice.

  Huey-Fang Shang, Hui-Ju Tsai, Wan-Chun Chiu, Sung-Ling Yeh
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  ABSTRACT: This study investigated the effect of arginine (Arg) supplementation on specific antibody production and antioxidant enzyme activities in burned mice vaccinated with detoxified Pseudomonas exotoxin A linked with the outer membrane proteins I and F, named PEIF. Also, the survival rate of burned mice complicated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa was evaluated. Experiment 1: Thirty BALB/c mice were assigned to two groups. One group was fed a control diet with casein as the protein source, while the other group was supplemented with 2% Arg in addition to casein. The two groups were isonitrogenous. The mice were immunized twice with PEIF, and the production of specific antibodies against PEIF was measured every week. After 8 weeks, all mice received a 30% body surface area burn injury. Mice were sacrificed 24h after the burn. The antioxidant enzyme activities and lipid peroxides in the tissues as well as the specific antibody production were analyzed. Experiment 2: Twenty-eight mice were divided into two groups and vaccinated as described in experiment 1. After the burn the mice were infected with P. aeruginosa, and the survival rate was observed for 8 days. The results demonstrated that antioxidant enzyme activities and lipid peroxides in tissues were significantly lower in the Arg group than in the control group after the burn. The production of specific antibodies against P. aeruginosa significantly increased in the Arg group at 4 and 7 weeks after immunization, and 24h after the burn. The survival rates of vaccinated burned mice after bacterial infection did not significantly differ between the two groups. These results suggest that vaccinating mice with Arg supplementation may enhance humoral immunity and attenuate the oxidative stress induced by burn injury. However, Arg supplementation did not improve survival in vaccinated mice complicated with P. aeruginosa infection.
  Burns 03/2003; 29(1):43-8. · 1.96 Impact Factor
• Article: Effects of arginine supplementation on antioxidant enzyme activity and macrophage response in burned mice.

  Hui-Ju Tsai, Huey-Fang Shang, Chiu-Li Yeh, Sung-Ling Yeh
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  ABSTRACT: This study investigated the effect of arginine (Arg) supplementation on antioxidant enzyme activities and macrophage response in burned mice. Experiment 1: 60 male BALB/c mice were assigned to two groups. One group was fed a control diet with casein as the protein source, the other group was supplemented with 2% Arg in addition to casein. The two groups were isonitrogenous. After 4 weeks, all mice received a 30% body surface area burn injury. The antioxidant enzyme activities and lipid peroxides in the tissues were analyzed. Experiment 2: 20 mice were divided into two groups and burn injury was induced after feeding for 4 weeks as described in experiment 1. Twenty-four hours after the burn, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) secreted by cultured peritoneal macrophages was measured. The results show that antioxidant enzyme activities and lipid peroxides in tissues tended to be lower in the Arg group than in the control group after the burn. Production of TNF-alpha by peritoneal macrophages after stimulation with lipopolysacchride (LPS) was significantly elevated in the Arg group, whereas no response was observed in the control group. These results suggest that dietary Arg supplementation attenuates the oxidative stress induced by burn injury, and a better macrophage response was observed when Arg was administered.
  Burns 06/2002; 28(3):258-63. · 1.96 Impact Factor