Fig. 4
From: Desmoglein 2, but not desmocollin 2, protects intestinal epithelia from injury
DSG2-deficient animals (DSG2ΔIEC) subjected to dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) for 4 days display higher intestinal permeability and enhanced STAT3 signaling. a Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of colon sections from DSG2ΔIEC (ΔIEC) mice and their floxed littermates (DSG2fl/fl or fl/fl) was performed. Western Blot depicts the epithelial cell marker keratin 8 (K8) in the colonic luminal content. b Serum FITC levels were measured following gavage of 4kD FITC-dextran and presented as dot plots (n = 6). c–e RT-PCR for TNFα, IL-1β and IL-22 as well as the antimicrobial peptide REGIIIβ was performed (n = 4–9). Activation of selected signaling pathways was assessed by immunoblotting. The low cytokine expression in non-treated animals (ctrl) was arbitrarily set as 1. All other values are presented as ratio. L7 (mouse ribosomal protein) gene and β-tubulin (βTub) were used as an internal and a loading control, respectively. f Immunohistochemistry visualizes phosphorylated STAT3 in colon sections of DSS-treated mice. Scale bar a, f = 100 μm. Two-tailed Student’s t test was used for statistical analysis of DSS-treated animals.*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001
