TABLE 2.

IL-6 production by small intestine epithelial cells isolated from conventional animals and challenged with different concentrations of viable cultures of L. casei CRL 431 and L. helveticus R389

Expt type, challenge variable, and conditions	IL-6 production (pg/ml) by SIECd
	Challenged with:			Not challengedf
	L. casei CRL 431	L. helveticus R389	LPSe
In vitro
Bacterial concna
108 CFU/ml	245 ± 10*	190 ± 20*
107 CFU/ml	405 ± 17*	500 ± 17*	878 ± 22*	310 ± 11
106 CFU/ml	414 ± 17*	368 ± 38
Antibody treatment of SIECb
Not coated	531 ± 60*	641 ± 75*	863 ± 80*	399 ± 15
Coated with anti-TLR2	376 ± 20	514 ± 95*	755 ± 60*	410 ± 30
Coated with anti-TLR4	510 ± 32*	481 ± 62*	740 ± 44*	390 ± 22
Ex vivoc
2 days	3,804 ± 82*	499 ± 85
5 days	1,109 ± 91*	452 ± 102		494 ± 47
7 days	1,704 ± 83*	1,740 ± 97*

^aIL-6 released by small intestine epithelial cells (SIEC) from BALB/c mice when the cells were challenged with different concentrations of the bacterial strains, with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), or were not challenged (control).

^bIL-6 production by SIEC left untreated or treated with anti-TLR2 and anti-TLR4 antibodies before they were stimulated with the bacterial strains or with LPS.

^cIL-6 production by SIEC isolated from BALB/c mice that received viable culture (1 × 10⁸ CFU/ml/day) of L. casei isolated from human feces or L. helveticus isolated from cheese for different periods of time (2, 5, or 7 days).

^dValues are means ± standard deviations. *, significantly different from the corresponding control value (P < 0.05).

^eLPS was used as a positive control.

^fNegative control.