Altered Cytokine Expression and Barrier Properties after In Vitro Infection of Porcine Epithelial Cells with Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and Probiotic Enterococcus faecium

Figure 3

Protein expression (Western blot) of claudin-1, claudin-3, claudin-4, claudin-5, claudin-7, and claudin-8 after treatment with bacterial strains (Ecf, ETEC, and Ecf + ETEC). (a) Protein expression relative to respective controls [means ± SEM]. Samples were taken after 8 h. No differences were observed between treatment groups. independent experiments per bar. (b) Exemplarily, data of one Western blot is shown. 1 = control (8 h), 2 = Ecf (8 h), 3 = ETEC (8 h), 4 = Ecf (8 h) + ETEC (6 h), and 5 = Ecf (10 h) + ETEC (8 h). Sample 4 was included as a control to rule out effects of longer total bacterial incubation (preincubation) and was not included in the statistical analysis shown in (a).

(a)

(b)