FIG. 7.

Epithelial barrier integrity is maintained in E. histolytica-infected human intestinal xenografts treated with indomethacin (Indo; 1.5 mg/kg every 8 h) or NS-398 (1 mg/kg every 8 h). The integrity of the epithelial barrier, as measured by the flux of fluorescently labeled dextrans from the lumen of the human intestinal xenograft into the systemic circulation, is shown for SCID-HU-INT mice whose intestinal xenografts were infected for 24 h with E. histolytica or sham infected with medium alone. Infection with E. histolytica resulted in a marked increase flux of dextran. Treatment with either indomethacin (1.5 mg/kg every 8 h) or NS-398 (1 mg/kg every 8 h) resulted in a flux of dextran that was significantly lower than that seen in xenografts receiving E. histolytica alone. Data are means ± standard errors of the means for five xenografts. ∗, P < 0.001 compared with uninfected xenograft; ∗∗, P < 0.02 compared with E. histolytica alone; ∗∗∗, P < 0.01 compared with E. histolytica alone.