Oral Probiotic VSL#3 Prevents Autoimmune Diabetes by Modulating Microbiota and Promoting Indoleamine 2,3-Dioxygenase-Enriched Tolerogenic Intestinal Environment

Figure 2

VSL#3 probiotic administration protects against T1D by changing the intestinal microbiota composition of NOD mice. Microbiota profiling by 16S metagenomic analysis was performed on microbiota samples obtained from female NOD mice treated with VSL#3 (VSL#3), RA alone (RA), or VSL#3 + RA or from untreated (Ctr) mice. Luminal contents from individual mice were collected at 12–14 weeks of age before onset of clinical diabetes (hyperglycemia), and a microbial survey of the metabolically active fecal community members was performed by pyrosequencing of the barcoded 16S rRNA gene. Between 15000 and 20000 sequences/samples were used in the analysis. Good coverage indices of >0,99 were observed for all samples. (a) Relative abundances of the different murine intestinal families in the four groups of mice. (b) The data are expressed as the mean ± SEM of the relative abundances of the major murine intestinal phyla. by one-way ANOVA test with Bonferroni’s correction.

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