FIG 4.

Zinc supplementation enables catchup growth in zinc-deficient ETEC H10407-infected C57BL/6 mice. Zinc-deficient mice received supplemental zinc sulfate in drinking water (150 mg/liter) starting from day 12 post-ETEC infection. Daily weight measures were collected from the day of infection until the end of the experiment. (A) Percentages of body weight change using day 0 as the baseline without discriminating the zinc treatment groups. *, P < 0.05 (for HC versus HC plus ETEC during days 4 to 6 postinfection and for dZD versus dZD plus ETEC during days 6 to 26 postinfection). (B) Myeloperoxidase (MPO) fecal levels after infection. Protein extracts were obtained from fecal samples at day 2 postinfection by lysing fecal specimens in RIPA buffer. Supernatants from the lysates were used for protein quantification and specific ELISAs for evaluation of MPO fecal levels. (C) Percentages of body weight change using day 0 as the baseline and discrimination of the zinc-treated groups. (D) Percentages of body weight change determined using day 12 (the initial day of zinc treatment) as the baseline. *, P < 0.0001 (dZD plus ETEC versus dZD plus WT plus Zn during days 23 to 26 postinfection) (n = 4/group).