Fig. 2.

C. difficile-infected mice gavaged with MET-1 have less histological damage compared to infected mice gavaged with saline vehicle control. C57BL/6 mice were treated with a mixture of broad-spectrum antibiotics and then orally administered MET-1 or saline, followed by 10⁵ C. difficile strain 027 or saline 24 h later, as described in “Methods”. a Representative images show gross morphology of the cecums and colons of infected mice differed between groups administered MET-1 and saline. Saline+ C. diff mice (“C. diff”, third panel) had smaller cecums and colons that were devoid of stool, while cecums and colons from MET-1 + C. diff mice (far right panel) appeared similar to the uninfected mice (first and second panels). b Representative images showing no histological differences in the colons of saline or MET-1 groups. Saline + C. diff mice showed signs of colonic inflammation including PMN infiltration and epithelial desquamation and submucosal edema. Epithelial cell integrity and crypt architecture were preserved in MET-1 + C. diff mice. c Histological scoring of the colon. The MET-1 + C. diff group had significantly lower histological scores (based on assessment of edema, PMN infiltration and epithelial cell damage) than the saline + C. difficile group. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA with Tukey correction, n = 4 for control groups and n = 3 for C. difficile-infected groups (*p <0.05, ***p <0.001)