Fig 7. C. rodentium density and localization during VIP treatment at day 14 post-infection.

Colonic tissue sections were stained with anti-Muc2 or co-stained with a general eubacterial probe and an antibody against E. coli lipopolysaccharide antigen O152, which also stains C. rodentium. (A) The number of engorged/Muc2 filled goblet cells per 100 goblet cells in the upper third of the epithelium, scores were pooled for the three VIP regimens. Statistics: Kruskal Wallis test. (B) Percentage of the epithelial surface covered by O152 positive bacteria, scores were pooled from the three VIP regimens. Statistics: Mann-Whitney U-test. (C) The amount of C. rodentium (CFU/g) in the spleen in VIP treated and non-treated infected mice. Each data point represents an individual mouse, and bars represent median and interquartile range (panels A-C). Of the mice harvested day 14 post infection, one mouse died in the group that was administered VIP day 5–10 and two in the group that were administered VIP day 10–14. (D) Change in body weights presented as mean±S.E.M. (E-N) Representative images (images were taken from sections that obtained the median score for each group) of colonic tissue sections stained for Muc2 (green) (E-I) or co-stained using the eubacterial probe (Eub338, red) and anti-O152 (green) (J-N) of non-infected control (E and J), infected vehicle treated (F and K), and infected VIP treated mice for day 5–14 (G and L), day 5–10 (H and M) and day 10–14 (I and N) (magnification x 200).