Number of total spleen cells among the experimental groups.

<p>Data represent the average±SEM. Differences among treatments were indicated by different lowercase letters and were considered statistically significant by the Dunn's multiple comparison test (p<0.05). (NC) negative control group; (V) mice treated with viable <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells; (HK) mice treated with heat-killed <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells.</p

Comparison of the number of total goblet cells and mucin production among the experimental groups.

<p>(A) total number of cells; (B) PAS/AB⁺ cells; (C) PAS⁺ cells. Data were shown as average±SEM. Differences among treatments were indicated by different lowercase letters and were considered statistically significant by the Dunn's multiple comparison test (p<0.05). (NC) negative control group; (V) mice treated with viable <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells; (HK) mice treated with heat-killed <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells (HK).</p

Photomicrographs of histological sections of small intestine of the animal groups studied.

<p>Jejunum segments were collected and processed for optical microscopy analysis at the end of the experiment. (NC), negative control group, figures A and D; (V) mice treated with viable <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells, figures B and E; (HK) mice treated with heat-killed <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells, figures C and F. The sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE; right panel) or PAS/Alcian Blue (left panel). Abbreviations: L: lumen; EP: simple cuboidal epithelium; BB: brush border; V: villum; LP: lamina propria; LC: Lieberkühn crypt; E: edema; V: blood vessel; Sm: submucosa; IC: inner circular muscle layer; OL: outer longitudinal muscle layer. The asterisks indicate intraepithelial lymphocytes; simple arrow indicates Paneth cells. Black arrow head indicates goblet cells PAS/AB⁺; red arrow head indicates PAS⁺ cells. Right panel – Scale bar: 100 µm; Left panel – Scale bar: 50 µm.</p

Size of Paneth cells (A) and number of cells in mitosis (B) at the small intestinal crypts of animals from different experimental groups.

<p>Data were shown as average±SEM. Differences among treatments were indicated by different lowercase letters and were considered statistically significant by the Dunn's multiple comparison test (p<0.05). (NC) negative control group; (V) mice treated with viable <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells; (HK) mice treated with heat-killed <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells (HK).</p

Cytokine production in small intestine of five-week old female BALB/c mice that received <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells.

<p>Segments of jejunum were collected on day 58 of the experiment and mRNA was extracted. The relative expression of the interleukin genes determined by real time-PCR was calculated in reference to the β-actin in each sample. (A) IL-12p40; (B) INF-γ; (C) IL-5; (D) IL-13; (E) TNF-α; (F) TGF-β; (G) IL-10; (H) IL-4; (I) IL-17. Results are shown as the mean value±SEM of duplicate samples from three independent mice within the V and HK groups, relative to the NC group. Differences between the relative cytokine expression in small intestine from mice treated with viable <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells (V) and treated with heat-killed <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells (HK) were indicated by (*) and were considered statistically significant by the t test (p<0.05).</p

Effect of the oral administration of <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 on percent weight gain of BALB/c mice.

<p>The weight of the animals is visualized as percentage of the animals' weight, which was calculated comparing the weight at the end of the experiment (day 58) to the weight at the day of the first sensitization (day 0). Each bar represents the mean value from six determinations with the standard error of the mean (SEM). Treatments with identical lowercase letters were considered not statistically significant by the Dunn's multiple comparison test (p>0.05). (NC) negative control group; (V) mice treated with viable <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells; (HK) mice treated with heat-killed <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells.</p

Mucosal thickness of the large intestine of the mice at the experimental groups.

<p>Data were shown as average±SEM. Differences among treatments were indicated by different lowercase letters and were considered statistically significant by the Dunn's multiple comparison test (p<0.05). (NC) negative control group; (V) mice treated with viable <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells; (HK) mice treated with heat-killed <i>S. bovis</i> HC5 cells (HK).</p

Sequences of sense (S) and antisense (AS) <i>primers</i> used for real time-PCR analysis.

<p>Sequences of sense (S) and antisense (AS) <i>primers</i> used for real time-PCR analysis.</p