Fig. 1.

Elimination of gut microbiota by broad-spectrum antibiotics (ABX) ameliorates ileal inflammation and restores Paneth cell health in Phb1-deficient mice. A H&E staining of the ileum. Bar = 100 μm. B Histological inflammation scoring of H&E-stained ileal sections. n = 8–11 Phb1^ΔPC or 5–6 Phb1^fl/fl littermates; n = 7 Phb1^iΔIEC or 7 Phb1^fl/fl littermates. C mRNA quantification in the ileum of Phb1^ΔPC or Phb1^fl/fl littermates. n = 7 per genotype. D mRNA quantification in the ileum of Phb1^iΔIEC or Phb1^fl/fl littermates. n = 7 per genotype. E Immunofluorescent-staining for lysozyme (red), muc2 (green), and DAPI (nucleus, blue) in ileal crypts (dashed line). Arrows denote Paneth cells with normal lysozyme packaging into granules. Star denotes lysozyme/muc2 colocalization in the crypt base. Bar = 50 μm. F Paneth cell lysozyme allocation patterns across 50 ileal crypts. n = 7–8 each group. G Average number of lysozyme⁺ cells per crypt per mouse. A minimum of 50 crypts per mouse were quantitated. n = 7–8 Phb1^ΔPC or 5 Phb1^fl/fl littermates; n = 7 Phb1^iΔIEC or 7 Phb1.^fl/fl littermates. ABX, antibiotics; H&E, hematoxylin & eosin; Ifng, interferon gamma; Il1b, interleukin 1 beta; muc2, mucin2; Tnfa, tumor necrosis factor alpha; Veh, vehicle. Results are presented as individual mice ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, and ****P < 0.0001