Figure 6.
Germ-free B6.129P2-IL-10tm1Cgn (IL-10−/−) mice were colonized at 6–8 weeks of age with Lactobacillus reuteri (Lr) Helicobacter hepaticus (Hh) or L. reuteri followed in 1 week by H. hepaticus (LrHh) then killed and examined post-mortem at 8–11 or 20 weeks post-infection (p.i.). Mean fold-change of mRNA expression was measured in caecal–colonic tissue for interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) from mice infected with L. reuteri, H. hepaticus or co-infected with both for 8–11 weeks p.i. Co-infected mice had significant up-regulation in all four mediators compared with mono-associated mice (Lr or Hh) or germ-free controls (P < 0.05). SD = standard deviation which is shown for controls (baseline values set at zero) and for experimental groups as error bars. Significant comparisons are indicated by asterisk (*).