Fig. 7.

Transfer of healthy control microbiota protects against EAE and mediates Treg induction in mouse mesenteric lymph nodes compared with transfer of MS patient microbiota. (A) Clinical EAE scores of mice that had been colonized with healthy control or MS patient microbiota for at least 5 wk or kept GF before the induction of EAE at 9–10 wk of age. Asterisks indicate significance between both the MS vs. control and the MS vs. GF groups. n = 6–8 mice per group. ****P < 0.0001, two-way ANOVA with Tukey adjustment for multiple comparisons. Data are shown as mean ± SEM. (B) PCoA of mouse microbiota at different time points after colonization with fecal microbiota from donor pair #1. n = 3–5 mice per group. EAE induction occurs at 35 d after transplantation. PC1, -2, -3, principal components 1, 2, and 3. (C and E) Representative flow cytometry plots of FoxP3⁺ lymphocytes within CD4⁺ populations and IL-10⁺ lymphocytes within CD4⁺FoxP3⁺ populations before EAE induction (C) and at peak of EAE disease (E). (D and F) Frequencies of IL-10⁺ lymphocytes within CD4⁺FoxP3⁺ populations in mesenteric lymph nodes of mice killed before EAE induction (D) and at peak of EAE progression (22 d after immunization) (F). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ****P < 0.0001, one-way ANOVA with Tukey adjustment for multiple comparisons. Data are shown as mean ± SEM.