Fig. 5

Treatment with a mixture of seven short-chain fatty acid-producing bacterial strains (7-mix) and the corresponding culture supernatant mixture (mix-sup) alleviates colitis after macrophage depletion in colitic mice. A. Macrophages were depleted by intraperitoneally injecting clodronate (CLD) liposomes in mice. B-D. Body weight, disease activity index (DAI) scores, and histological scores (×200) in colitic mice treated with PBS, 7-mix, or mix-sup and treated or not with CLD. E-F. Immunohistochemical expression of myeloperoxidase (MPO), ZO-1, and Muc2 in colitic mice treated with PBS, 7-mix or mix-sup and treated with CLD (×200). N = 3–5. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001