Figure 5.

Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA) increases Na⁺/H⁺ exchanger 3 (NHE3) membrane abundance and intestinal fluid absorption in metformin-treated db/db mice. A: NHE3 protein expression in ileal epithelial lysates was determined. Right: quantification of NHE3 normalized to villin expression. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ns, not significant. B: fluid absorption was measured for 2 h in the ileal sections of the mice. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ****P < 0.0001. C: representative confocal immunofluorescence (IF) images for NHE3 (green), F-actin (red), and DAPI (blue) are shown. Scale bar, 20 μm. Bottom: enlarged images of the boxed area. Con, control; M, Met, metformin.