Figure 1. Kinetic cultural analysis of colonic microbiota changes postmortem in conventional mice.

Mice harboring a conventional intestinal microbiota were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and kept at constant ambient conditions. Main gut bacterial groups of the colonic lumen contents taken at defined time points postmortem (as indicated on the x-axis) were quantified by culture (see Methods). (A) Total bacterial counts as well as numbers of (B) E. coli, (C) Enterococci, (D) Lactobacilli, (E) and Bacteroides/Prevotella spp. were determined by detection of colony forming units (CFU) per gram feces on appropriate culture media. Numbers of animals harboring the respective bacterial species out of total number of analyzed animals are given in parentheses. Medians and significance levels (P-values) determined by Mann-Whitney-U test are indicated. n.d. indicates not determined. Data shown are representative for three independent experiments.