Fig. 1: Cholecystectomy exacerbates colorectal tumorigenesis in C57BL/6 mice.

a Schematic diagram showing the experimental design and timeline. b The body weight of mice (two-tailed t test was used at the end point, n = 7/group). c Representative colonoscopy images of mice (n = 3/group). Macroscopic tumors were present in GBx+AD mice but no obvious tumor was observed in Sham+AD mice. d Colonic morphologies. Each red arrow points at one tumor location (n = 7/group). e Tumor number (left) (n = 7/group) and tumor size distribution (right). f Representative H&E staining of mouse colons (left). H&E staining showed normal, dysplastic mucosae and carcinoma in the colon tissues. The pathological score was quantitative analyzed (right) according to the following criteria: 0 for normal; 1 for LGD; 2 for HGD and 3 for carcinoma (ANOVA, n = 7/group). The bottom scale bar is 200 μm and the top scale bar is 20 μm. g Intestinal permeability was measured by FITC-dextran (two-tailed Welch’s t test, n = 7/group). h Representative images and semiquantitative analysis of Ki67 staining of mouse colons (n = 7/group). i Serum CEA (upper) and CA19-9 (lower) levels in the two groups (n = 7/group). Data are shown as the mean ± SEM. P values were determined by two-tailed t test for e, h, i and were indicated in each figure. GBx, cholecystectomy; AOM, azoxymethane; DSS, dextran sodium sulfate; AD, AOM/DSS; CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen; CA19-9, cancer antigen 19-9; LGD: low grade dysplasia; HGD: high grade dysplasia. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.