Fig. 7.

L. reuteri supplementation affects monocyte phenotypic characteristics but has marginal effects on functional responses. a PCA plot of monocyte phenotype comparing placebo and L. reuteri-treated group of ELBW preterm infant at different postnatal timepoints. Explained variances of each principal component (PC) were indicated in brackets. Interleaved box and whisker plots showed proportions of TLR4 (b) and CD86 (c) expressing monocytes comparing placebo and L. reuteri-treated group at different postnatal ages. PCA of LPS induced cytokine (d) and chemokine (e) response comparing between placebo and L. reuteri-treated group in ELBW preterm children at all timepoints. f Box and whisker plots envisaged soluble CD163 levels in plasma from placebo and L. reuteri-treated groups at D14, D28, and W36 ELBW preterm neonates. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to make group comparisons.