Figure 10.

The effect of microbiota depletion on the development of fibrosis in the intestine after injury. (A) Experimental outline demonstrating the course of DSS (3%) administration for 5 days, followed by a switch to H₂O, H₂O supplemented with antibiotic cocktail (ABX), or H₂O supplemented ABX and indole-3-propionic acid (IPA) (∗indicate the different analysis time points). (B) Circulating serum levels of IPA in mice after oral administration of IPA (expressed as fold-change compared with WT control mice; n = 3–6 per group). (C) Representative Masson’s trichrome staining of the colon with (D) associated analysis of microscopic fibrotic area and fibrotic thickness in mice receiving H₂O or IPA water for 25 days after induction of colitis with DSS. (n = 5–6 per group; scale bar = 200 mm). Data are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean. One-way analysis of variance with Tukey post hoc test. ^∗P < .05, ^∗∗P < .01, ^∗∗∗P < .001.