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. 2011 Mar 7;121(4):1657–1666. doi: 10.1172/JCI45538

Figure 4. IEC C1galt1–/– colons have impaired mucus barrier integrity.

Figure 4

(A) 2.5-week-old WT and IEC C1galt1–/– colonic tissues that were fixed with Carnoy’s fixative, sectioned, and stained with Alcian blue (blue) or a FITC-labeled antibody to murine Muc2 peptide. Black arrows indicate the mucus layer. White arrows mark the inner mucus layer. Arrowheads indicate impaired mucus layer. Dashed lines mark epithelial surfaces. Scale bars: 50 μm. (B) Serum concentrations of the FITC-dextran of 2.5-week-old WT and IEC C1galt1–/– mice were measured 4 hours after oral administration of FITC-dextran (mean ± SD, n = 6). *P < 0.002. (C) Relative amount of bacterial 16S rDNA detected in colon tissues by real-time PCR using two independent sets of 16S universal primers. Data are expressed as the fold difference between WT and IEC C1galt1–/– mice (2.5 weeks old, mean ± SD, n = 6). The average 16S rDNA value of WT mice was expressed as 1. **P < 0.004. (D) H&E-stained representative colon sections indicate that depletion of gut microflora improves colitis in IEC C1galt1–/– mice treated with NMVA for 4 weeks starting at 8 weeks of age. Scale bars: 100 μm. Data are representative of at least 3 experiments.