Figure 4

Presence of IL-7Rα–expressing cells in the ileal mucosa. A Representative photomicrographs of immunostaining of IL-7Rα and negative control of irrelevant rabbit serum in ileal tissues collected from the indicated pigs 1 week after F4⁺ ETEC/VTEC/EPEC challenge. IL-7Rα–positive cells were predominantly localized in the surface epithelium and the lamina propria, as well as Peyer’s patches, with sporadic positive staining. Scale bars, 100 μm. B Representative Western blot results for IL-7Rα in ileal tissues collected from 2 pigs of each group are shown (upper panel). Results are presented as the ratio of the IL-7Rα band intensity to the intensity of the GAPDH band (lower panel). Data are expressed in arbitrary units (A.U.) as the mean ± SEM for each tissue (n = 8 per group).