Figure 3. L. interrogans infection disrupted intestinal tight junctions.
Six-week-old female hamsters were injected intraperitoneally with 107 leptospires. Blood was collected to determine intestinal permeability at 0 d, 2 d, and AM post infection (p.i.). Colons were collected aseptically to measure gene expression at 0, 2, and AM p.i. (A) The intestinal permeability of Leptospira-infected hamsters was analyzed with a fluorescence spectrophotometer at the indicated time (D0, n = 4; D2, n = 6; AM, n = 6). (B–F) The relative gene expression of ZO-1 (B), Claudin-3 (C), JAMA (D), Claudin-2 (E), and Mucin-2 (F) in Leptospira-infected hamsters (n = 6–10 per group) was determined by qPCR. D0, uninfected hamster. AM, articulo mortis. Each infection experiment was repeated three times. Data are shown as the mean ± SEM and analyzed by using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.