Fig. 1.

AKK and pAKK treatment impacted tight junction protein expression, SCFA production, and gut microbial community composition in mice before infection. C57BL/6 mice were orally gavaged with PBS (CK). Live A. muciniphila (AKK) or pasteurized A. muciniphila (pAKK) for 14 days and euthanized on day 14. (A) Weight change. (B) Representatives image of colon (left) and colon length (right). (C) Representative H&E stained cecal sections of mice. Images were taken at × 10 magnification. The mRNA expression of (D) Cldn3 (Claudin3), (E) Ocln  (Occludin), (F) Tjp1 (ZO-1), (G) Muc2 (Mucin2), (H) Reg3b, and (I) Reg3g. (J) Quantification of SCFAs derived from fecal contents. (K-R) Microbial communities. (K) Shannon index and (L) PCoA analysis were shown. Each dot represented an individual in each group. (M) Relative abundance of bacterial phyla in three representative animals per group. (N) Boxplots displaying the relative abundance fractions of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes; (O) The ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes; (P) The difference in the bacterial family among three groups. A-J: n = 5, K-P: n = 6. Statistical significance was determined by ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test for multiple comparisons, and post-hoc Tukey test or Mann-Whitney test for comparisons between two groups. *^,#p < 0.05, **^,##p < 0.01, and ***^,###p < 0.001.