Abstract: Rabbits were fed with nourishing food (yam) and heat-clearing foods (balsam pear,buckwheat and yoghourt). The change regularities of pro-and anti-inflammatory cytokine in the rabbit serum and rabbit body temperature were investigated,and the causal relationship of the foods with rabbit body temperature and cytokine network was expolred to reveal the immunoregulation of the foods. After 24 h of being fed with yam,the body temperatures of the rabbits rise. The concentrations of the cytokines such as IL-1ra,IL-4,TGF-β,TNF-α,INF-γ and IL-12 decline,but those of IL-6,IL-10 and IL-1β are reverse. After 24 h of being fed with yoghourt,the body temperatures of the rabbits decilne,the concentrations of the cytokines such as IL-1ra,IL-4,TGF-β,IL-1β,TNF-α and INF-γ decline,but those of IL-6,IL-10 and IL-12 rise. After 24 h of being fed with balsam pear,the body temperatures of the rabbits decline the concentrations of the cytokines such as IL-1ra,TGF-β,IL-1β,TNF-α and INF-γ decline,but those of IL-4,IL-6,IL-10 and IL-12 rise. After 24 h of being fed with buckwheat,the concentrations of the cytokines such as IL-1ra,IL-4,TGF-β,IL-1β,TNF-α and INF-γ decline,butthose of IL-6,IL-10 and IL-12 rise. It is clearly that the functional foods can regulate the complicated cytokine network to control the immunosystem and the body temperature of animal. The results revealed that the animal body temperature can be changed by feeding different functional foods,which follow the traditional Chinese experience laws about negative "(Yin") or positive "(Yang") of foods. Therefore the causal relationship of food-animal body temperature-immunoregulation maybe really exist by the interaction between food and mucosal immunosystem.

Key words: inflammatory cytokine, anti-inflammatory cytokine, body temperature, cytokine network, functional food