Figure 4.
The development and maturation of ILFs are not directly regulated by dietary antigens. (A–D) total ILF numbers and (E–H) mature ILF numbers in various parts of the intestine of SPF, GF, and GF-AF mice. Maturity of ILFs was evaluated by measuring the B220+ area of the ILF and if it was ≥50,000 μm2, the ILFs were characterized as “mature.” (A,E) proximal SI. (B,F) distal SI. (C,G) upper half of LI. (D,H) lower half of LI of mice. The intestinal regions were defined as described in the Materials and Methods section. Data are pooled from three independent experiments (SI and LI of SPF; n = 6, SI and LI of GF; n = 6, SI of GF-AF; n = 4 and LI of GF-AF; n = 5). Mean ± SD are shown. One-way ANOVA with Tukey's post-hoc test was performed for statistical analysis. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001.