Figure 3.

L. Mix treatment increased trabecular bone mass in orx mice. Ten-week-old male mice were treated with either vehicle (veh) or a mixture of three lactobacilli (L. Mix) for 6 weeks, starting 2 weeks before orchiectomy (orx) or sham surgery. At the end of the experiment, dissected femurs were analyzed with peripheral quantitative CT (pQCT) to measure (A) trabecular bone mineral density (Tb BMD) and (B) cortical area (Crt area). Dissected vertebral body (L5) were analyzed with high-resolution μCT to measure (C) trabecular bone volume fraction (BV/TV), (D) trabecular thickness (Tb Th), (E) trabecular separation (Tb Sp) and (F) trabecular number (Tb N). Representative μCT images of L5 with cortical bone were excluded (G). Symbols in the scatter plots represent individual mice and the bars indicate mean ± s.e.m. (n = 13–15). The overall effects of treatment (Veh/L.Mix), surgical procedure (sham/orx) and their interaction were calculated using two-way ANOVA, NS, not significant. The effect of L. Mix compared to veh treatment in sham and orx mice respectively was calculated by Sidak’s post hoc test to correct for multiple comparisons, **P ≤ 0.01 and *P ≤ 0.05.