Figure 2.

Mice were treated with vehicle or antibiotic mixture (abx) and sacrificed 2 weeks (wks) later; otherwise, mice were treated with abx and sacrificed 2, 4, or 6 weeks (wks) post antibiotic wash-out (w/o). Gastrointestinal dysmotility was determined by administering the animals with non-absorbable FITC-labelled dextran by oral gavage. Animals were sacrificed 60 min later. Gastric emptying was calculated as the percentage of dextran retained in the stomach with respect to the total amount of fluorescence in the gastrointestinal tract. Light grey: vehicle; dark grey: abx; intermediate grey: wash-out. (a). The transit of the fluorescent probe in the ileum is reported as the calculated geometric centre, which is the centre of the distribution of fluorescent dextran in the ileum (b). The number of faecal pellets expelled in 1 h. Circle: vehicle treated mice; square: abx; up-triangle: 2 wks wash-out; down-triangle: 4 wks wash-out; rhombus: 6 wks wash-out. (c). Time (seconds, s) required for the expulsion of a glass bead inserted into the rectum (d). Data are reported as mean ± SD. number of mice for each experimental group = 9–16 mice per group. ^c denotes p < 0.05 vs. vehicle-treated mice.