Figure 7.

Actin-dense pedestals are formed in C. rodentium-infected wild-type (WT) mice and reduced in OPN^−/− mice. A: Multiple bacteria carpeted the surface of colons of wild-type mice with A/E lesions after 6 days of infection with C. rodentium. B: In infected OPN^−/− mice, there were no bacteria seen in most areas of the colon (left panel). In other areas, some adherent organisms were seen (arrows in middle panel), and only in rare cases were multiple adherent bacteria observed in infected OPN^−/− mice, especially on shedding epithelial cells (arrows in right panel). C: OPN^−/− mice treated with rectal OPN and infected with C. rodentium showed multiple A/E lesions.