FIG 3.

Differential impacts of MACs on C. difficile burdens and an association of C. difficile 630 clearance with cecal butyrate concentrations in mice. (A) Burdens of C. difficile in mouse feces were quantified until 19 days postinfection and are shown as light blue crosses for mice fed the gum arabic diet, red squares for mice fed the inulin-containing diet, light green upward triangles for mice fed the resistant maltodextrin diet, orange downward triangles for mice fed the 6′-SL diet, magenta diamonds for mice fed the 2′-FL diet, and black circles for mice fed the LNnT diet. The geometric means of C. difficile burdens for mice fed each diet are connected by lines matching this diet-specific coloring scheme. The limit of detection is displayed as a dotted line. (B) The SCFAs acetate, propionate, and butyrate were quantified in cecal contents collected from mice after euthanasia at 19 days postinfection via LC-MS. Individual measurements are shown as circles, squares, and triangles (acetate, propionate, and butyrate, respectively) and are stratified by mice that had detectable C. difficile in their feces versus those that had undetectable C. difficile in their feces. Means are displayed as bars, standard deviations are displayed as error bars, and statistical significance was assessed by Mann-Whitney test (**, P < 0.01; ns, not significant).