Fig. 7: In vivo evaluation of BL3.2 against clinical isolate of V. cholerae.
From: Orally delivered toxin–binding protein protects against diarrhoea in a murine cholera model
a Schematic representation of the two oral administrations of BL3.2 given to 5-day-old CD−1 mice (Charles River Laboratories, strain 022, mixed sex); 1 h before and 5 h after orogastric challenge with a V. cholerae clinical isolate. Created using BioRender. Laboratory, T. (2025) https://BioRender.com/b75t379. b Weight loss of infant mice 22 h after orogastric inoculation with V. cholerae (2.8 × 108 CFU), given two oral administrations of either BL3.2 (n = 6, 9 mg ml−1) or bovine serum albumin (BSA) (n = 6, 9 mg ml−1); 1 h before challenge with V. cholerae and 5 h after. Median for diarrhoea-induced weight loss (diarrhoea in red and no diarrhoea in white) determined to be 1.4% for BL3.2 and 10% for the BSA control. Statistical difference (**P < 0.01) estimated using the two-sided Mann–Whitney U test (P = 0.0022). Source data are provided in a Source Data file. c Fluid accumulation (FA) ratio (% of body weight) determined for infant mice challenged with V. cholerae (2.8 × 108 CFU), given two oral administrations of either BL3.2 (n = 6, 9 mg ml−1) or BSA (n = 6, 9 mg ml−1); one hour before challenge with V. cholerae and five hours after. Median for FA ratio (diarrhoea in red and no diarrhoea in white) determined to 4.1% for BL3.2 and 8.7% for the BSA control. Statistical difference (**P < 0.01) estimated using the two-sided Mann–Whitney test (P = 0.0022). Source data are provided in a Source Data file. d The number of V. cholerae found in the small intestine of infant mice 22 h after orogastric inoculation with 2.8 × 108 CFU (dashed line), given two oral administrations of either BL3.2 (n = 6, 9 mg ml−1) or BSA (n = 6, 9 mg ml−1); 1 h before challenge with V. cholerae and 5 h after. Average CFU per organ (solid line) determined to be 1.6 × 108 CFU for BL3.2 and 1.8 × 109 CFU for the BSA control. Statistical difference (**P < 0.01) estimated using the two-sided Mann–Whitney U test (P = 0.0022). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
