Fig. 2

Treatment with a mixture of seven short-chain fatty acid-producing bacterial strains (7-mix) and the resulting culture supernatant mixture (mix-sup) reduces acute ulcerative colitis (UC) and improves gut barrier function. A. Experimental mouse model of acute UC. B. Body weight, disease activity index (DAI) scores, and colon length in colitic mice treated with PBS, 7-mix, mix-sup, or fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) relative to control mice. C-E, Colon tissue morphology (hematoxylin-eosin staining, ×200) and the immunohistochemical expression of myeloperoxidase (MPO), occludin, ZO-1, and Muc2 (×200) in colitic mice treated with PBS, 7-mix, mix-sup, or FMT relative to control mice. F, Histological scores and semi-quantitative analysis of immunohistochemical staining. N = 5–6. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001