Figure 2.

Live probiotic EcN protects from severe forms of EAU when administered starting 14 days before the immunization until day 28 post-induction [n = 26 (placebo), 28 (EcN) in total] (A), while EcO has no effect [n = 13 (placebo), 8 (EcO) in total] (B). EAU severity was assessed by in vivo fundus biomicroscopy on the 21st and 27th day post-induction and by histological analysis 28th day post-induction and the differences were quantified by unpaired Mann Whitney test; graphs show individual values and red lines represent mean, ** p < 0.01 *** p < 0.001. Data are pools from 5 (EcN) or 2 (EcO) independent experiments. Representative pictures from clinical and histological pictures from the 27th day show typical pathological features when mice were treated with EcN (C) or EcO (D). These include chorioretinal lesions (arrowhead), vascular sheathing (arrow) and optic nerve inflammation during clinical examination and infiltration of cells in the inner retina (star), cell infiltration of the vitreous body (vitritis, arrowhead) and retinal folds (arrow) during histological examination (optical magnification 200×).