1. Volume 127, Issue 5, Pages 1463-1473 (November 2004)
The lymphotoxin-β receptor is critical for control of murine Citrobacter rodentium– induced colitis 
Thomas W. Spahn, Christian Maaser, Lars Eckmann, Jan Heidemann, Andreas Lügering, Rodney Newberry, Wolfram Domschke, Hermann Herbst, Torsten Kucharzik 
Gastroenterology 
Volume 127, Issue 5, Pages (November 2004)
DOI: /j.gastro
Copyright © 2004 American Gastroenterological Association Terms and Conditions

2. Figure 1
Course of body weight in 129×B6 mice (A) (n = 12 per group) and C57BL/6 mice (B) (n = 7 per group) after infection with Citrobacter rodentium. 129×B6 mice were injected with 20 μg and C57BL/6 mice with 100 μg of human IgG (huIgG; black circles) or LTβRIgG (open circles) once weekly, starting 24 hours before oral infection. Differences in body weight were statistically significant between days 8 and 18 (A) (P < .05) and days 16–17 (B) (P < .05).
Gastroenterology  , DOI: ( /j.gastro )
Copyright © 2004 American Gastroenterological Association Terms and Conditions

3. Figure 2
Course of C rodentium–induced colitis in huIgG-treated (black bars; n = 7) and LTβRIgG-treated (white bars; n = 7) mice. (A) Colonization of liver and spleen with C rodentium and mean histological disease severity score (B) were assessed in mice 17 days after infection. *P < .05, huIgG vs. LTβRIgG. §Spleen homogenates of huIgG-treated mice contained 0 CFU of C rodentium after 24 hours of culture.
Gastroenterology  , DOI: ( /j.gastro )
Copyright © 2004 American Gastroenterological Association Terms and Conditions

4. Figure 3
Microphotographs (H&E staining; original magnification, 5× [A and B] and 40× [C and D]) of representative sections of colon from huIgG-treated (A and C) and LTβRIgG-treated (B and D) mice 17 days after induction of C rodentium–induced colitis. The histological disease severity score was 0 in (A) and (C) and 4 in (B) and (D). (A) and (C) show intact intestinal epithelia lining with bacteria (*) in the intestinal lumen and colonic lymphoid follicle (▷), which were less frequent in colons of LTβRIgG-treated mice. (B) shows an epithelial ulcer (margins indicated by ↕) and bacterial abscesses (→) with massive leukocyte infiltration (⇒) in the lamina propria and submucosal edema (▶).
Gastroenterology  , DOI: ( /j.gastro )
Copyright © 2004 American Gastroenterological Association Terms and Conditions

5. Figure 4
Immunohistochemical staining of follicular dendritic cells (FDC) in lymphoid organs of human IgG-treated (huIgG; left panel) and LTβRIgG-treated (right panel) mice undergoing C rodentium–induced colitis 17 days after infection with C rodentium. Original magnifications: colonic lymphoid patch (CP), 40×; mesenteric lymph node (MLN), 20×; spleen, 40×. FDC networks were absent in colon lymphoid patches, mesenteric lymph nodes, and spleen of mice undergoing LTβRIgG treatment.
Gastroenterology  , DOI: ( /j.gastro )
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6. Figure 5
Immunohistochemical staining of the mucosal homing receptor MAdCAM in spleen tissue from huIgG-treated (A) and LTβRIgG-treated (B) mice 17 days after infection with C rodentium. Original magnification, 10×.
Gastroenterology  , DOI: ( /j.gastro )
Copyright © 2004 American Gastroenterological Association Terms and Conditions

7. Figure 6
Course of C rodentium–induced colitis in LTβ−/− (A-C; open bars and open circles) and LTβR−/− (D-F; open bars and open circles) mice and the respective wt mice (filled bars and filled circles). Differences in body weight between LTβ−/− and wt mice (A) were statistically significant (P < .05) from day 17 after infection onward and between LTβR−/− and wt mice (D) on days 18–19 after infection. (A) Representative experiment out of 2 using 5 (LTβ−/−) and 7 (wt) mice per group; (D) representative experiment out of 3 using 5–6 mice per group. The average histological disease severity score (B) represents pooled data from 2 experiments (wt, n = 12; LTβ−/−, n = 10). (E) Pooled data from 2 experiments using 9–10 mice per group. Bacterial growth in liver and spleen organ homogenate cultures from dead LTβ−/− (C) and LTβR−/− (F) mice and control animals are shown. Bars indicate pooled data from 2 similar experiments: (C) wt, n = 9; LTβ−/−, n = 8; (F) wt, n = 6; LTβR−/−, n = 5. *P < .05, wt vs. −/−. C. r., C rodentium.
Gastroenterology  , DOI: ( /j.gastro )
Copyright © 2004 American Gastroenterological Association Terms and Conditions

8. Figure 7
Microphotographs (H&E staining, top 3 panels; Giemsa staining, bottom panel; original magnifications: LTβ, 10× LTβR, 20×; LTα [H&E], 20×; LTα [Giemsa], 10×) of representative sections from colon of C57BL/6 mice with gene defects of the lymphotoxin-receptor family as indicated and of respective wild-type (wt) mice undergoing C rodentium–induced colitis. The histological disease severity score was 0 in all wt mice and 4 in all gene-deficient mice depicted. In wt mice, the intestinal epithelia lining is intact, and bacteria (*) are confined to the intestinal lumen. §Mouse chow. In lymphotoxin-receptor gene-deficient mice, there are epithelial ulcers (margins indicated by ↕) and bacterial abscesses (→) with massive leukocyte infiltration (⇒) in the lamina propria and submucosal edema (▶).
Gastroenterology  , DOI: ( /j.gastro )
Copyright © 2004 American Gastroenterological Association Terms and Conditions

9. Figure 8
Course of C rodentium–induced colitis in lymphotoxin-α gene-deficient (LTα−/−) mice and wt mice. The histological disease severity score (A) was assessed in C57BL/6 wt and LTα−/− mice (n = 5 per group). (B) Growth of C rodentium in liver and spleen homogenates from dead LTα−/− and wt mice (n = 5/group). *P < .05, wt vs. LTα−/−. C. r., C rodentium.
Gastroenterology  , DOI: ( /j.gastro )
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10. Figure 9
(A) Serum anti–Citrobacter rodentium IgG1 and IgG2a antibodies in wt and LTβR−/− mice 10 days after oral infection with C rodentium. Each point indicates the mean optical density of 6 individual mice taken from 2 similar experiments. *P < .05, wt vs. LTβR−/−. (B) Anti–Citrobacter rodentium–induced secretion of IL-4 and IL-10 in wt and LTβR−/− spleen cells 10 days after infection with C rodentium. Figures depict 1 representative experiment out of 2 using 3 mice per group; error bars indicate the SD of ELISA duplicates + mean.
Gastroenterology  , DOI: ( /j.gastro )
Copyright © 2004 American Gastroenterological Association Terms and Conditions