Fig. 4.

Immunopathology in the colons of C. jejuni-infected mice following different dietary regimens. Gnotobiotic mice (GNOTO, circles) were generated by antibiotic gut decontamination and fed either cafeteria diet (CAF, solid circles) or conventional murine diet (sterile pellets, open and crossed circles), orally infected with C. jejuni strain ATCC 43431 (C.j.), and compared to noninfected gnotobiotic controls (open circles) and to naïve (open squares) or C. jejuni strain ATCC 43431 (C.j., solid squares)-infected animals harboring a conventional murine microbiota (SPF). The average numbers of apoptotic cells (positive for caspase-3, panel A), neutrophilic granulocytes (neutrophils, positive for MPO-7, panel B), T-lymphocytes (positive for CD3, panel C), regulatory T-cells (Treg, positive for FOXP3, panel D), and B-lymphocytes (positive for B220, panel E) from at least six high power fields (HPF, 400× magnification) per animal were determined microscopically in immunohistochemically stained colon sections. Numbers of animals of the respective genotype analyzed are given in parentheses. Means (black bars) and levels of significance (P-values) as compared to the respective groups (determined by the Student’s t-test) are indicated. Data shown were pooled from at least three independent experiments