Figure 3.

IPEC-J2 cells treated with growth medium (Control), porcine colostrum, C. difficile toxins (Toxins) and a porcine colostrum and toxin complex (Porcine colostrum + Toxins). Immunofluorescence confocal microscopic visualisation (M-20X) of F-actin cytoskeleton (red), ZO-1 tight junction proteins (green) and nuclear DNA (blue). Incubation in growth medium or porcine colostrum does not affect the F-actin or ZO-1 in cells. Treatment with C. difficile toxins reduces the amount of F-actin and ZO-1 in cells. Toxins also reduce the number of cells as shown by DAPI staining. By combining porcine colostrum with toxins, an improvement of the F-actin cytoskeleton and ZO-1 TJ protein is observed, as compared to the effect of toxins alone.