Oral Administration of the Probiotic Lactobacillus casei Ameliorates Gut Morphology and Physiology in Malnourished-Giardia intestinalis-Infected BALB/c Mice
Figure 7
Scanning electron micrograph of the small intestine of mice belonging to different groups on day 9PI. (a) Control mice with well-organised and properly distributed microvilli (250x). (b) Malnourished mice showing mummified, disrupted, and blunted microvilli. Note the reduced length of microvilli (250x). (c) Giardia-infected mice showing damaged and disrupted microvilli along with deposition of surface exudates (150x). (d) Malnourished-Giardia-infected mice showing damaged, disrupted, and distant apart microvilli along with deposition of exudates (250x). (e) Malnourished-probiotic fed mice showing disorganized and shortened microvilli with better morphology (250x). (f) Malnourished-Giardia-probiotic mice showing altered crypt and villi morphology that are far apart from each other (250x). (g) Malnourished-probiotic-Giardia-infected mice showing somewhat preserved microvilli morphology and their orientation, along with the deposition of exudates (250x).