Fig. 4.

Dietary maternal heme iron exposure during perinatal period influences gut barrier homeostasis in offspring in a sex-dependent manner. Assessment at PND60 of intestinal epithelial permeability using Ussing chambers ex-vivo experiment on jejunal segments (n = 18–20) through the measurements of: (A) Electrical resistance (R, F_{iron x sex}<0.05), (B) paracellular epithelial permeability to FSS (F_iron0<0.01, F_{iron x sex}<0.05), (C) transcellular epithelial permeability to HRP. Inflammation status (n = 7–11) was explored through measurements of (D) fecal lipocalin-2 (F_{iron x sex}<0.05), (E) jejunal TNF-α gene (F_iron<0.05) and (F) ileal TNF-α concentration. Values are presented as means ± S.E.M. Two-way ANOVA and Šídák's multiple comparaison test: *padj<0.05, **padj<0.01. FSS, Fluorescein Sodium Salt; HRP, Horse Radish Peroxidase; TNF-α, Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha.