Figure 4.

Alteration of pancreas mass and pancreatic function can be transferred to GF mice. A: Schematic representation of the experimental design of bacterial transfer from treated donor mice to GF mice. B: Pancreas weight of GF mice colonized with bacteria from mice on chow (C), HFD (H), HFD + vancomycin (V), or HFD + metronidazole (M), weighed 2 weeks after transfer (n = 6 colonized mice). Results are shown as mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001. C: Western blots for pancreatic enzymes in the pancreas of chow- or HFD-fed GF mice that received bacterial transfer from chow + placebo, HFD + placebo, HFD + vancomycin-, or HFD + metronidazole-treated mice and quantitation of amylase, lipase, and elastase proteins normalized to vinculin (n = 3 per group; 2 weeks after colonization). D: Quantification of Ki67⁺ amylase⁺ cells. Data represent mean ± SEM (n = 3 per group). **P ≤ 0.01. E: Total number of amylase⁺ acinar cells for a constant area (63.5 mm², n = 5). Data represent mean ± SEM. Protein content (F) and DNA content (G) of 1 mg pancreas tissue (n = 5, 6 images for pancreata). Data represent mean ± SEM.