Figure 6. Characterisation of the immune microenvironment in the lamina propria of the small intestine of PolgA^mut/mut and PolgA^+/+ mice at 6 months of age, prior to tumour induction.

a-b: Immune cell infiltration within the distal third of small intestine was analysed by flow cytometry. a shows the relative proportions of each cell type, b shows the absolute numbers. No significant differences were found between the two groups (n=3 mice per group, one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post-test). c: Mean frequency of B cells, T Cells and Neutrophils/mm² of small intestinal epithelium as quantified by immunohistochemistry. n=5 mice per group, No significant differences were detected by one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post-test. d-e: Dot plots showing Z-scores calculated following quantification of mitochondrial OXPHOS protein levels in small groups of lamina propria cells in the small intestine (d) and colon (e) of PolgA^mut/mut and PolgA^+/+ mice (n=5 mice per group and a minimum of 50 areas per mouse were analysed). f: Categorical analysis of OXPHOS protein levels (n=5 mice per group). g: Relative expression of the SSP genes in the lamina propria of the small intestine by RT-PCR which had been identified to be upregulated by RNASeq analysis in the crypts (n=6 mice per group, one-way Mann-Whitney U test). P values are as follows: Phgdh p=0.1201, Psat1 p=0.043, Psph p=0.011, Aldh1l2 p=0.0022, Mthfd2 p=0.0043, Slc1a4 p=0.500. Mean values per mouse ± s.e.m are shown. * p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001