Figure 3
Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) colonization enhances proliferation, differentiation, and tight junction formation in 2-week-old mice. Mice were treated as described in Figure 2. Proliferation (Ki67, a) in the small intestine and differentiation (MUC2, b) in the colon were assessed using immunostaining. The numbers of positively stained cells were shown. Real-time PCR analysis of Muc2 expression in colonic epithelial cells was shown (c). Barrier formation was detected by the in vivo FITC-dextran assay. The FITC-dextran level in serum is shown (d). Real-time PCR analysis was performed to detect CLND-3 expression in the small intestinal epithelial cells (e). Paraffin-embedded small intestinal tissues were used to determine ZO-1 distribution by immunohistochemistry using an anti-ZO-1 antibody and FITC-labeled secondary antibody and visualized by fluorescence microcopy (red staining). Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue staining) (f). In (c) and (e), the average of mRNA expression levels in the non-colonized mice was set as 100%, and the mRNA expression level of each mouse was compared with this average. In (a–c) and (e), n=7 in each group. Images in (f) represent five mice in each group.
