Figure 4.

Capacity of the mixture to limit Citrobacter rodentium-induced colitis in C57BL/6J mice. (A) Experimental design. Mixture of three bacterial strains (5 × 10⁸ CFU/day/mice, all strains were present in equal amount in the mixture) was daily administered by intragastric preventive gavage for 5 days (n = 10 per group). (B) C. rodentium burden, (C) Colon lengths. (D) qRT-PCR analysis of the expression of pro-inflammatory genes in the proximal colon of mice after 4 days post infection when compared to non-infected animals. (E) qRT-PCR analysis of the expression of pro-inflammatory genes in the distal colon of mice after 10 days post infection when compared to non-infected animals. Results from one experiment are expressed as relative gene expressions (2^−∆∆ct) by comparing the PCR cycle thresholds (Ct) for the gene of interest and for the house keeping gene β-actin (bact), compared with control mice. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.