Induction of precocious intestinal maturation in T-cell deficient athymic neonatal rats

Figure 1 Epithelial maturation in the distal small intestine expressed as adult-type epithelium replacing the foetal-type vacuolated epithelium. A: Photomicrograph (× 200, scale bar 100 μm) of H&E stained distal small intestine representative of a rat after PHA gavage (right) as compared to a control rat (left), with white bar connectors showing the portion of adult-type epithelium along the villus. B: Degree of intestinal epithelial maturation (%) in nude 14 day old rat pups treated by gavage with a kidney bean lectin - PHA (n = 4) or water (Control n = 3) and reared by their own mothers (Nude/Nude) and nude rat pups gavaged with PHA (n = 5) once or once a day for 3 d (PHAx3 n = 7), a protease once (Prot n = 4) or once a day for 3 days (Protx3 n = 7) or water (Control n = 5) and fostered by conventional SD dams (Nude/SD). Data presented as mean ± SD and differences were considered significant when P < 0.05. Significant differences between groups within nurturing groups (Nude/Nude or Nude/SD) indicated with ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001, ^dP < 0.0001 or non-significant (ns).