Figure 5.

Safety and immune recognition of EcN-AvCys in pigs and effect on post-weaning gut inflammation. (a) Three groups of four week old weaned piglets were inoculated with either saline (ctr, n = 9), 2 × 10¹⁰ CFU EcN (EcN, n = 8) or 2 × 10¹⁰ EcN-AvCys (EcN-AvCys, n = 10) every 48 hours over 14 days. (b) Piglets were weighed at day (D) 28, 35, and 42 and body weight as a percentage of D28 weight is reported. (c) Proliferative response of mLN leukocytes after 48 hours incubation with a recombinant control protein or recombinant AvCys as determined by ³H-thymidine incorporation. Values are expressed as proliferation indices and mean + SEM is shown. (d) Representative pictures used for histopathological scoring of distal colon sections (left) and compiled inflammatory scores for all pigs (right). Red arrowheads depict areas of extensive immune cell infiltration. **P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001 (Mann–Whitney U-test).