Fig. 2: Misoprostol protects animals against severe CDI and decreases intestinal permeability.

Female C57BL/6 mice were treated with cefoperazone for 5 days followed by 2 days of recovery in regular drinking water and then challenged with 1 × 10⁶ spores of strain M7404. (a) Mice received misoprostol by intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection daily starting on the day of inoculation. 60 mg i.p. daily showed the same results as 20 mg (not shown). N = 5 mice per group. * P <0.05 compared to uninfected control by Log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test. (b.) Mice were treated with cefoperazone for 5 days followed by 2 days of recovery in regular drinking water and then challenged with 1 × 10⁴ spores of strain M7404. Mice received misoprostol by i.p. injection (or vehicle) daily and stools were scored for severity of diarrhea on a 4 point scale (1 -- normal, 2 -soft stool/discolored, 3 -- wet stained tail/mucous, 4 -- liquid/no stool). N = 5 mice per group. **P <0.01, ***P < 0.001 by ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. (c) To assess intestinal permeability mice were infected with 1×10⁴ spores of M7404 and given misoprostol 20 mg/mouse by IP injection 30 min before C. difficile inoculation, 24 h later and at the time of FITC-dextran treatment. 2 d post infection mice were gavaged with FITC-dextran or vehicle control, then euthanized 4 h later and concentrations of FITC-dextran in plasma were determined. N = 5 mice per group. *P < 0.05 by ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test.