FIG 1.

Alterations in the gut mucosa in antibiotic-induced and C. difficile infected mice. (A) Experimental outline: Three-4 weeks old C57BL/6 mice (n = 18/group) are treated with an oral antibiotic cocktail or PBS and an intraperitoneal clindamycin injection or PBS to induce gut dysbiosis and then challenged with 10⁴ C. difficile spores or PBS. The serum, cecal contents, and tissues were collected 2 days postinfection (n = 18). (B) Histopathology of the colon from different treatment groups: colonic mucosa of the C. diff group exhibited severe epithelial damage, mucosal edema, and neutrophil infiltration compared to controls. (C) Cumulative histologic scores (0–9 scale): C. difficile infection induces severe colitis in mice (n = 8). All data (C) are presented as the mean, and error bars indicate SEM. One-way ANOVA with adjusted P-value was used to test for statistical significance **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05.