Figure 4

Intestinal decontamination prevents stress-induced bacterial translocation and toll-like receptor-4 signalling pathway activation. (A) Bacteria colony-forming units (CFUs) per mg of tissue detected in mesenteric lymph nodes in control (CONTROL) and stressed rats with (S + ATB) or without (STRESS) antibiotic treatment. The data represent the CFU found in each animal (n = 6 per group). (B) Toll-like receptor (TLR)-4, (C) inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and (D) inducible cyclooxygenase (COX-2) protein levels (Western blot) in brain frontal cortex samples of control and stressed rats with or without antibiotic treatment (S + ATB and STRESS, respectively). For TLR-4, the data are representative of two experiments (n = 2 to 3 per group in each experiment). One-way analysis of variance followed by Newman–Keuls post hoc test. *P < 0.05 versus control; **P < 0.01 versus control; ^# P < 0.05 versus stress. O.D., optical density.