Fig. 7: Therapeutic window of allergic airway inflammation in early life.

a Schematic diagram of butyrate supplementation at different periods. For Prenatal group, antibiotic-exposed dams were supplemented with butyrate (200 mM) in drinking water from embryonic day 14 (E14) to postnatal day 7 (P7) (n = 5); for Neonatal group, pups of Abx dams were intraperitoneally injected with butyrate daily from P2 to P7 (n = 5); for Post-Wean group, pups of Abx dams were supplemented with butyrate (200 mM) in drinking water from P21 for 2 weeks (n = 5). After butyrate supplementation, adult mice were administered with papain or PBS intranasally for 5 consecutive days. ILC2 phenotype and allergic inflammation in lungs were evaluated (b–f). b–c Frequencies and absolute numbers of ILC2s in lungs (b). Ki-67⁺ ILC2s and IL-5⁺ IL-13⁺ ILC2s (c) were evaluated by flow cytometry. d Amounts of IL-5 and IL-13 in BALF were examined by ELISA. e Frequencies of eosinophils in BALF were analyzed by flow cytometry. f H&E staining of lung tissues (bars, 100 µm). In Fig. 7d, the data are presented as the mean ± SEM values, by unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test. For box plots, the data are shown as “Min to Max, show all points”. For box plots, the midline represents the median; box represents the interquartile range (IQR) between the first and third quartiles, and whiskers represent the lowest or highest values within 1.5 times IQR from the first or third quartiles (b, c, e, f). *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; ****P < 0.0001 by unpaired two-tailed Student’s t test. Data are presentative of 2-3 independent experiments (b–f). Statistical source data are provided in Source Data.