FIG. 2.

Kinetics of bacterial translocation in monoassociated mice. Germfree C3H/n mice received a single gavage with 10⁹ CFU of L. johnsonii or L. paracasei at weaning. Bacterial loads were counted in fecal pellets extracted from the rectum (A), the luminal contents of the small intestine (B), and the colon (C). Bacteria were also counted in Peyer's patches (D) and mesenteric lymph nodes (E). Counts were made by gavage at days 4, 15, and 30 after colonization. This is one representative experiment out of three performed individually. Results are expressed as mean (± standard error of the mean) CFU per gram for feces, small intestine, and colon or as CFU per organ for Peyer's patches and mesenteric lymph nodes for four mice per group. The horizontal dashed line indicates the limit of detection due to the initial dilution of the samples (see Materials and Methods), and data points below that line represent negative cultures. *, P < 0.05 between the two groups.