Figure 4
Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) colonization increases production of IgA in the intestine. Mice were treated as described in Figure 2, and feces were collected at the indicated ages. Fecal sIgA levels were determined by ELISA. N=10 in non-colonization group, N=14 in LGG-colonized group (a). The small intestinal tissues from 3-week-old pups were prepared for IgA immunostaining (b). Red arrows indicate IgA positively stained lamina propria cells. Images in (b) represent five mice in each group. Feces were collected from mice with indicated ages and cultured on deMan, Rogosa and Sharpe agar to determine the number of Lactobacillus colonies. The number of fecal Lactobacillus colonies was plotted against the fecal sIgA level for each mouse. The lines illustrate the best-fit linear regressions with the correlation coefficient and significance as indicated (c).
