Figure 3.
Effect of Lactobacillus casei administration on the percentage of effector immune cells in the spleen. BALB/c mice received daily 109 CFU of live L. casei per os for 13 days (n = 4/5). Control group received PBS (n = 4/5). On day ten (10) of oral administration, 5 × 106 CT26 cells were injected subcutaneously. Spleen cells were isolated from mice three (d13 from start) or seven (d17 from start) days post CT26 injection. Cells isolated at d17 were analyzed with flow cytometry. Isolated cells from both time points were co-cultured ex vivo with 108 CFU/mL of L. casei for 48 h. (a) Representative dot plots for each subtype of immune cells (CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, NK cells) in the spleen; (b) Frequencies of immune cell subtypes present in the spleen; (c) Cytokine production of spleen cells isolated from probiotic-fed mice at d13 or d17. *, p < 0.05, groups were repeated two times.