Fig. 6: Administering mouse rLIF promotes regeneration of the intestinal epithelium and prolongs survival of WT mice after IR.

a Supplementing the medium with mouse rLIF (50 ng/mL) promoted the growth of organoids from WT mice. Left panel: representative images of intestinal organoids. Right panel: quantification of organoid surface area. b The morphology of the duodenum and ileum of WT mice with or without injection of rLIF (WT + LIF) examined by H&E staining at 72 h after 12 Gy IR. c IHC staining of Ki67 in the duodenum and ileum of WT and WT + LIF mice at 72 h after 12 Gy IR. Left panel: representative images of Ki67 IHC of the duodenum and ileum. Middle panel, quantification of crypt length. Right panel: the number of Ki67⁺ cells/crypt. Data are presented as mean ± SD. n = 120 crypts from at least 3 mice/group. d, e Quantification of the number of viable crypts/field (d) and Olfm4 positive crypts/field (e) in the duodenum and ileum of WT and WT + LIF mice at 72 h post 12 Gy IR. f Kaplan–Meier survival curve of WT and WT + LIF mice post 12 Gy whole-body IR (left) and 9 Gy whole-body IR (right). In a, d, e, data are presented as mean ± SD. n = 30 fields from at least 3 mice/group. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; Student’s t-test. In f, *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; Kaplan–Meier survival analysis.