Fig. 3: Antibiotic treatment ameliorates tumor-induced impairment in STC.

a Schematic illustration of microbiota depletion in HCC tumor-bearing mice. Mice were fed with normal water or ABX water for 4 weeks before establishing the HCC model. Two weeks later, mice were killed, hippocampus was removed (Created with Biorender). b The representative of tumor morphology, tumor sizes and liver weight are shown (n = 5). c The representative of intestine morphology, cecum, colon, and small intestine length are shown (n = 5). d The Late-LTP was monitored in the mock mice fed with ABX water (n = 5). e The Late-LTP was monitored in the tumor-bearing mice fed with ABX water (n = 5). f STC was tested in mock mice fed with ABX water (n = 5). g STC was tested in tumor-bearing mice fed with ABX water (n = 5). Error bars indicate ±SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. The experiments were repeated three times. Symbols, traces, and the scale bar are similar to those shown in Fig. 1.