FIG. 4.

Dietary protein malnutrition alters TGF-β production in guinea pigs vaccinated with M. tuberculosis H37Ra. Outbred Hartley strain guinea pigs were vaccinated with M. tuberculosis H37Ra and maintained on the LP or HP diet for 6 weeks. Sera were collected following an intravenous injection of 1 mg of PPD/kg of body weight 2 h prior to euthanization. Peritoneal macrophages were stimulated with PPD at 15 μg/ml for 48 h. Cell-free supernatants were collected and measured for TGF-β bioactivity. Data for six guinea pigs per treatment are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean.