Journal: International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Article Title: Altered Intestinal Morphology and Microbiota Composition in the Autism Spectrum Disorders Associated SHANK3 Mouse Model

doi: 10.3390/ijms20092134

Figure Lengend Snippet: Altered gut morphology in Shank3αβ knock-out (KO) mice. ( A – D ) Histological evaluation of GI tract from wild type and Shank3αβ KO mice. ( A ) Longitudinal cross sections of Shank3αβ KO mice and wild type (WT) mice were stained with hematoxylin/eosin (HE) (upper panels) and periodic acid schiff (PAS) reaction (lower panels). Exemplary images are shown. ( B – D ) Morphological analysis of ( B ) villi length and ( C ) width, and ( D ) crypt depth reveals a significantly decreased villi length (Mann-Whitney U -test, p = 0.009; n = 5 animals per group) but not width ( p = 0.534), and normal crypt depth ( p = 0.983) in Shank3αβ KO mice. ( E , F ) Immunohistochemistry was performed on 5 mice per group and 5 optic fields of view each from 3 sections per mouse were analyzed. ( E ) A slight but non-significant decrease in FABP2 signal intensity was observed in Shank3αβ KO mice compared to wild types (left panel). Significantly higher ZONULIN-1 levels were found in Shank3αβ KO mice (right panel) ( t -test, p = 0.0413). ( F ) The levels of CLAUDIN3 and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were not significantly different between Shank3αβ KO mice and wild types in gut epithelium. ( G ) Significantly higher ZONULIN-1 levels in Shank3αβ KO mice were confirmed by western blotting using gut epithelium protein lysate ( t -test, p = 0.0434, n = 3 per group). ( H ) Protein lysate from liver tissue from WT and Shank3αβ KO mice ( n = 3 per group) were analyzed for E. coli LPS levels using Western Blotting. The results show significantly higher LPS levels in the liver of Shank3αβ β KO mice ( t -test, p = 0.0452). * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01.

Article Snippet: Zonulin 1 antibody was purchased from Thermo Fisher Scientific (Invitrogen) (Waltham, MA, USA); Claudin3 antibody from Abcam (Berlin, Germany); FABP2 antibody from Thermo Fisher Scientific (Invitrogen); LPS antibody from Origene (Rockville, MD, USA); and IL6 antibody was purchased from Cell signaling Technologies (Danvers, MA, USA); GFAP antibody was purchased from Sigma Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA); Cytokeratin and Vimentin antibody from Abcam.

Techniques: Knock-Out, Staining, MANN-WHITNEY, Immunohistochemistry, Western Blot