Fig 3. Bifidobacteria prevent tunicamycin-induced barrier loss in Caco-2 monolayers.

(A-B) Change in TEER of differentiated Caco-2 monolayers after pre-treatment with indicated (A) bifidobacteria or (B) lactobacilli and subsequent apical stimulation with 10 μg/ml tunicamycin during 48 hours. Results shown are the mean ± standard deviation of three independent experiments each using triplicates. Statistical analyses were performed using two-sided Student’s t-tests with unequal variance, with * p < 0,05; ** p < 0,01 and *** p < 0,001. (C-D) Representative Trypan blue staining images (C) and quantification (D) of the trypan blue positive area of differentiated Caco-2 monolayers after bifidobacteria pre-treatment and subsequent apical stimulation with 10 μg/ml tunicamycin (TM) or vehicle (VH) for 48 hours. The results shown are representative of two independent experiments and represent the means ± standard deviation of triplicate wells.