Fig. 1: Pre-treatment with DMC-18 protected mice from CD-mediated weight loss and disease pathology.

a Schematic of the CD mouse model used in this study. Mice were given an antibiotic cocktail ad libitum in their drinking water for three days, and then water for the next two days. On day 6, mice were gavaged 150 μl of thawed DMC-18 mixtures (prepared in the proportions described in Table 1), followed by CD027 or CD078 challenge (1 × 10⁵ CFU) on day 7. Mice were weighed, and their stools were collected daily. On day 9, mice were euthanatized by cervical dislocation. Blood, stool, colon, and cecum were harvested. Created with BioRender.com. b DMC-18 treated mice were protected from significant weight loss following CD027 or CD078 infection (two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s test, n = 8 for each group, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01). c Representative images of the gross morphology of the ceca and colons from all groups of mice taken at the same magnification (20X). Uninfected mice and those exposed to DMC-18 prior to CDI had large ceca filled with feces and well-defined fecal pellets in the colon, while infected animals showed a reduction in their ceca size and demonstrated colitis. d Ceca were measured to compare sizes between uninfected, CD-infected and CD-infected+DMC-18 mice with CD027 and e CD078. Mice infected with CD had significant colonic shortening that was prevented when given DMC-18. A one-way ANOVA with Dunnett’s correction, n = 8 for each group was performed (***p < 0.001). Error bars represent standard error of the mean.