Fig 1. The experimental design describing the protocol for DSM bacteria and μV isolation.

a) The Lactobacillus reuteri DSM-17938 whole bacteria (large black spheres) were removed from the growth medium and washed. The remaining conditioned medium (grey square including small black dots representing μV), with bacteria removed, was applied separately. Microvesicles (small black dots) were removed from the conditioned medium and applied separately. The remaining conditioned medium (empty grey square) after removal of μV was applied separately. b) μV size distribution and concentration for individual preparations were estimated by nanoparticle tracking analysis. In the representative example shown here, the average particle size was 156.3 ± 2.1 nm and the modal particle size was 139.3 +/- 7.6 nm. The total estimated concentration of nanoparticles was 5x10¹⁰ per mL. Data are binned in 10 nm increments. Error ribbon (grey shadow) depicts standard error of the mean. c) Spatiotemporal heat map example of propagating contractile clusters (PCC) in the colon during Krebs control (top) and after intraluminal treatment with DSM-17938 (bottom). Contractions of the colon (smaller diameters) are represented by red-yellow and relaxations (larger diameters) are represented by green-blue. Contractions are propagated from oral to anal ends of the tissue across the y-axis and time is represented by the x-axis. Intraluminal DSM increased the velocity and frequency of colonic propagating contractions.