Figure 5
From: Commensal microbiota induces colonic barrier structure and functions that contribute to homeostasis
Microbiota induces maturation of colonic barrier structure. Mucus structure and microvillus length were assessed at days 1, 7 and 21 post-colonization. (a) Representative pictures of mucus structure evaluated by alcian blue/periodic acid-Schiff (AB/PAS) staining (left panel) and mucin-2 IF staining (right panel). Mucin-2 is shown in green, nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Arrows designate areas of inconsistent mucus, brackets indicate areas of uniform, thick mucus. (b) Representative EM images demonstrating bacterial exclusion (left images) and microvillus length (right images). Markings indicate microvilli (Mv), epithelial cells (EC), and the black arrows indicate separation of bacteria (B) from the epithelium by the mucus (Mu) layer. (c) Microvillus length. Each data point represents analysis of one image; the horizontal line and whiskers depict the mean ± SD. Data was collected over 2–5 independently executed experiments. Significance was determined by Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s post-hoc test.
