FIG 7.

Treatment with Nod agonists upregulates intestinal goblet cell numbers and Muc2 in germfree mice. (A) Numbers of PAS⁺ goblet cells in naive C57BL/6 mice treated with vehicle or the broad-spectrum antibiotic neomycin or rifampin. (B) Representative micrographs of PAS-stained intestinal sections in vehicle-, neomycin-, or rifampin-treated mice. (C) Numbers of PAS⁺ intestinal goblet cells in specific-pathogen-free (SPF) mice, germfree mice, and germfree mice treated with both Nod1 and Nod2 agonists (C12-iE-DAP + L18-MDP). (D) Representative micrographs of PAS-stained intestinal sections from the same mice. (E) Numbers of Muc2⁺ cells, as assessed by immunohistochemistry. (F) Representative micrographs of Muc2-stained intestinal sections. Magnification, ×200; bars, 100 μm. Groups were compared using Tukey's multiple comparison posttest. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001; ns, not significant (5 mice per group).