Figure 2

Vagotomy worsens the severity of DSS-induced colitis. Wild type C57BL/6 mice were subjected to vagotomy (VGX) or pyloroplasty (PP) 2 wks before treatment with 2% DSS in drinking water for 5 d followed by 9 d of normal drinking water. Body weight (A) and stool consistency score (B) were assessed daily. Statistical significance was determined using a multivariate linear model after a post-hoc Bonferroni-Holm correction (### P < 0.001, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001). (C) Mortality is expressed as survival rate and shown by Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Data are representative of two independent experiments. Statistical significance of Kaplan-Meier survival curves was determined with Log-rank (Mantel-Cox) Test (***, p = 0.0004). At d 7 after induction of DSS-colitis, PP and VGX mice were sacrificed. Colonic lamina propria immune cells were characterized by flow cytometry. (D) Frequencies of colonic CD4⁺ T cells, CD25⁺FoxP3⁺ Tregs and CD25⁺FoxP3⁻ T cells are shown. (E) Frequencies of innate immune cells, CD103⁺ and CD64⁺ antigen presenting cells isolated from the MLNs. Dots represent frequencies of immune cells in individual mice. Mean ± SEM is also shown. Data are representative of two independent experiments. Statistical significance was determined with the unpaired Student t-test (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01; ns, not significant).