Fig. 9.

Blockade of IL-6R restores immune cellular homeostasis in the neonatal gut following intra-amniotic IL-1α exposure. (a) Dams underwent intra-amniotic injection of IL-1α on 16.5 days post coitum (dpc). Six h later, dams received intraperitoneal injection of rat anti-mouse IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody (aIL-6R) or rat IgG2b isotype (control). Dams were allowed to deliver, and the neonatal small intestine, caecum, and colon were collected on postnatal day (PDN) 21 to isolate leukocytes for immunophenotyping. (b) Heatmap representation showing Z-scores for the proportions of specific lymphocyte subpopulations (conventional T and MAIT cells, ILCs, and NK cells) from the two experimental groups in the neonatal caecum and colon (n = 5–11 per group). (c) Cell proportions of CD4⁺RORγt⁺ T cells, CD8⁺FoxP3⁺ T cells, CD8⁺IL-17A⁺ T cells, CD4⁺FoxP3⁺ mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells, CD8⁺IL-17A⁺ MAIT cells, CD8⁺GATA3⁺ MAIT cells, TGFβ⁺ ILCs, NCR⁺TGFβ⁺ ILCs, RORγt⁺ NK cells, and IFNγ⁺ NK cells in the neonatal caecum. (d) Cell proportions of CD4⁺RORγt⁺ T cells, CD8⁺IL-17A⁺ T cells, CD4⁺FoxP3⁺ MAIT cells, NCR⁺TGFβ⁺ ILCs, NCR⁺IL-10⁺ ILCs, and IFNγ⁺ NK cells in the neonatal colon. Data are shown as box-and-whisker plots where midlines indicate medians, boxes indicate interquartile ranges, and whiskers indicate minimum and maximum values. p-values were determined using the two-sided Mann–Whitney U-test. ∗p < 0.05; ∗∗p < 0.01; ∗∗∗p < 0.001.