Figure 1.
Probiotics stimulate hBD-2 protein secretion in vivo. (a) hBD-2 peptide secretion after 3 weeks of placebo treatment in five individuals. (b) In total, 23 individuals received preparations of Symbioflor 2 for 3 weeks. HBD-2 peptide was determined by ELISA in stool samples. Data were normalized to hBD-2 levels before treatment that were set as 1 and represent the mean±s.e.m. (c) Probiotics exert a post-treatment effect on hBD-2 secretion. HBD-2 peptide levels are shown in a subset at day 0, after 3 weeks of probiotic treatment and 9 weeks after stop of treatment. Paired t-tests were used for the comparison of values before and after treatment. The data represent the means±s.e.m. **P<0.01; ***P<0.001.