Figure 3

Vagotomy does not affect the development and the severity of T cell transfer-induced chronic colitis. Rag1^−/− mice were subjected to vagotomy (VGX) or pyloroplasty (PP) 2 wks before adoptive transfer of naïve T cells. (A) Body weight loss was followed over time in VGX-Rag1^−/− mice injected with WT naïve T cells (WT→VGX-Rag1, black) and in PP-Rag1^−/− mice injected with WT naïve T cells (WT→PP-Rag1, gray). Statistical significance was determined using a multivariate linear model after a post-hoc Bonferroni-Holm correction (ns, not significant). (B) Eight weeks after T cell transfer, colon length and spleen weight were measured in WT→VGX-Rag1 and WT→PP-Rag1 mice. (C) Inflammatory gene expression was quantified via q-PCR in colonic tissue. tnfa, il6, il1a, tbet, infg, rorc and il17a mRNAs were analyzed. (C) Gene expression levels are shown as fold induction on non-injected naïve Rag-1^−/−. (D) Representative flow cytometry dot plots and the frequencies of T helper cell subsets (IFN-γ⁺IL-17A^-, IFN-γ⁺IL-17A⁺, IFN-γ^-IL-17A⁺) and Treg (CD25⁺FoxP3⁺) were showed. Dots represent individual mice. Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. Statistical significance was determined with the unpaired Student t-test for colon length, spleen weight, gene expression level and flow cytometry analysis (ns, not significant).