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