Fig. 4: Microbiota transplantation of Atg7 deficient mice protects WT mice from C. rodentium infection.
From: Inhibition of Atg7 in intestinal epithelial cells drives resistance against Citrobacter rodentium
a Principal component analysis of bacterial diversity of feces from WT and Atg7ΔIEC mice (n = 6 WT mice, n = 6 Atg7ΔIEC from two independent experiments, permanova p-value = 0.006), b Body weight changes after oral infection with C. rodentium of WT, Atg7ΔIEC mice and WT mice with fecal transplantation from Atg7ΔIEC mice (WT + FMT) (n = 6 mice per condition, from two independent experiments). Two-way ANOVA with Greenhouse-Geisser correction. c Quantification of bacterial burden in stool (CFU/g) over time from WT, Atg7ΔIEC and WT + FMT mice (n = 6 mice per condition from two independent experiments). d Relative quantification of colon weight/length ratio from WT, Atg7ΔIEC and WT + FMT mice at day 18 p.i (n = 6 mice per condition from two independent experiments). e Representative hematoxylin & eosin (H&E), alcian blue (BA), Ki67 staining on colonic sections from WT, Atg7ΔIEC and WT + FMT mice at day 18 p.i. Quantification of colonic crypts length, Ki67 positive cells per crypts and BA-positive cells per crypt (n = 6 mice per condition from two independent experiments). f Percentage of Rorγt+ IL-17A+ cells (Th17) and Foxp3+IL-10+ cells (Treg) within the CD4+ cells obtained by FACS analysis from the lamina propria of the colon of WT, Atg7ΔIEC and WT + FMT mice at day 8 p.i (n = 3 WT mice, n = 4 Atg7ΔIEC mice, n = 4 WT + FMT mice). g Quantification by immunostainings of CD4 and Rorγt double-positive cells (n = 6 mice per condition from two independent experiments) and CD4 and Foxp3 double-positive cells (n = 6 mice per condition from two independent experiments) from the colon of WT, Atg7ΔIEC and WT + FMT mice at day 18 p.i. h Levels of free sialic acid in feces from WT, Atg7ΔIEC and WT + FMT mice before infection (UI) and after C. rodentium infection at day 4 p.i and 8 p.i (UI: n = 6 WT, n = 6 Atg7ΔIEC n = 5 WT + FMT; day 4 p.i: n = 6 WT mice, n = 6 Atg7ΔIEC mice, n = 5 WT + FMT; day 8 p.i: n = 5 WT mice, n = 6 Atg7ΔIEC mice, n = 5 WT + FMT mice). Black scale bar = 100 µm. Mean ± SEM. Significant differences: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ns not significant, determined by unpaired t-test.
