The Preventive Effects of Nanopowdered Peanut Sprout-added Caciocavallo Cheese on Collagen-induced Arthritic Mice

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of nanopowdered peanut sprout-added Caciocavallo cheese (NPCC) on the prevention and treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in DBA/IJ mice immunized with type II collagen. After the induction of arthritis, the mice were being divided into five groups: (1) normal, no immunization; (2) CIA, collagen-induced arthritis; (3) MTX, collagen-induced arthritis treated with methotrexate (0.3 mg/kg body weight); (4) CC, collagen-induced arthritis treated with Caciocavallo cheese (0.6 g/d); (5) NPCC, collagen-induced arthritis treated with nanopowdered peanut sprout-added Caciocavallo cheese (0.6 g/d). Nanopowdered peanut sprout was ranged from 300 to 350 nm, while regular powdered peanut sprouts were ranged from 50 to 150 μm. The NPCC group had considerable reductions of clinical scores and paw thicknesses at the end of experiment as compared to the CIA group. In the serum analysis, the TNF-α, IL-1β, IL- 6 and IgG1 levels in the NPCC group have decreased by 69.4, 75.9, 66.6, and 61.9%, respectively, when compared to the CIA group. The histological score and spleen index of the NPCC group were significantly lower than the CIA group. In conclusion, the feeding NPCCmethod could delay and/or prevent the rheumatoid arthritis in the collagen-induced arthritis mouse model. Based on this study, nanopowdered peanut sprouts could be applied to various functional cheeses.