Figure 2.

Metabolic syndrome correlates with microbiota encroachment in human. Colonic biopsies were collected during colonoscopy procedure and placed in methanol-Carnoy fixative solution, followed by confocal microscopy analysis of microbiota localization. (A) Distances of the closest bacteria to intestinal epithelial cells was measured in 5 high-powered fields per sample and plotted versus fasting blood glucose concentration. (B) Distances of the closest bacteria to intestinal epithelial cells was measured in 5 high-powered fields per sample and plotted versus hemoglobin A_1C level. (C) Distances of the closest bacteria to intestinal epithelial cells was measured in 5 high-powered fields per sample and plotted versus body mass index. (D–G) Distances of the closest bacteria to intestinal epithelial cells per condition over 5 high-powered field according to the diabetes mellitus (D, E) or the obese (F, G) status. In E, obese patients were removed from the analysis. In G, patients with diabetes mellitus were removed from the analysis. Linear regression line was plotted and R² and P values were determined. Significance was determined by Student t test. *P < .05); n = 42; red dots represent subjects with diabetes. HbA1C, hemoglobin A_1C; IEC, intestinal epithelial cells.