Fig. 5.

Tributyrin delivery stabilized tight junction protein expression and co-localization in proximal colon during short-term ethanol (EtOH) feeding. Mice were allowed free access to EtOH (2 days, 32%) or pair-fed control diets as described in Materials and Methods. Doses of glycerol or tributyrin (0.83 mM) were provided via oral gavage at 1% (1 day) and 6% (2 days) of EtOH feeding (total 3 doses). Occludin (red) and ZO-1 (green) were visualized by immunohistochemistry in sections of proximal colon frozen in OCT. Nuclei were counterstained with DAPI (blue). A selected area was cropped and enlarged. All images were acquired using a 40× objective. Images are representative of at least replicate images captured per mouse in 4 to 6 mice (pair-fed) or 6 mice (EtOH-fed).