Figure 4.

Effects of dietary probiotics on the mRNA expression levels of the tight junction-related genes in the jejunum (a,b) and ileum (c,d) of the geese at the age of 70 days. Note: a and c for TJP1 gene, b and d for OCLN gene. Group A (as control) was fed a basal diet, the treatment groups (B, C and D) were fed the basal diet supplemented with 250 mg/kg Clostridium butyricum (viable count 3.0 × 10⁶ CFU/g), 250 mg/kg Bacillus subtilis (viable count 2.0 × 10⁷ CFU/g), or the combination of 250 mg/kg Clostridium butyricum plus 250 mg/kg Bacillus subtilis, respectively. The relative mRNA transcript abundance of each gene was determined by quantitative PCR and presented as fold change over control group A. The internal control gene is GAPDH. n = 6. The data are presented as the mean ± SEM.