Fig. 1: Diet-dependent difference in gut epithelial vulnerability to chronic stress.

a, b The length of the small intestine (a) and colon (b) of mice after 14 days of restraint stress (RS, 4 h daily). Data are represented as mean ± SEM for n = 5 for the control group and n = 6 for the stress group, respectively. CD chow diet, PD purified diet. c Representative Olfm4 staining images in the ileum section of the intestine. Olfm4-positive cells are quantified at the bottom of per crypt. Scale bar: 100 µm. Data are represented as mean ± SEM for n = 3 (CD-Con vs PD-Con, p = 0.03; CD-RS vs PD-RS, p = 0.02; PD-Con vs PD-RS, p = 0.05). d Representative Lgr5 staining images in the colon. Lgr5-positive cells are quantified at the bottom of per crypt. Scale bar: 100 µm. Data are represented as mean ± SEM for n = 3 (CD-RS vs PD-RS, p = 0.002; PD-Con vs PD-RS, p = 0.01). e Schematic of the experimental design. Mice fed with either CD or PD were subjected to chronic RS for 14 days, and subsequently exposed to 2% (wt/vol) DSS for 7 days. f Colon length in colitis mice. Data are representative of three independent experiments and expressed as average length ± SEM for n = 6 (CD/DSS vs PD/DSS, p = 0.013; CD-RS/DSS vs PD-RS/DSS, p = 0.0007; PD-DSS vs PD-RS/DSS, p = 0.009). g ELISA assay of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and Mcp-1 in the colon tissue of colitis mice. Data are represented as average fold change ± SEM for n = 6. Statistical significance was determined by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test (a, b, d, f, g) or Fisher’s LSD test (c). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001; ns no significance.