Fig. 1

Intestinal barrier was destroyed in NEC patients and mice. a Representative sections from ileac tissue of Ctrl or NEC patients stained with anti-claudin-1, anti-occludin, and anti-ZO-1 antibodies. Neonatal intestinal atresia patients were used as controls. b Statistical analysis of the average optical density of immunohistochemical staining images of (a) (n = 5 per group). c and d Western blot analysis of claudin-1, occludin, and ZO-1 protein levels in small intestinal epithelial cells of NEC mice and relative gray calculation (n = 5 ~ 6 per group, representative data from four independent experiments). e The concentration of FITC-dextran 4 kDa (FD4) in the serum of Ctrl or NEC mice. Ctrl, dam-fed, n = 5 ~ 6 per group. Four independent experiments were performed. Data are shown as mean values ± SD. Statistical analyses were performed with Student’s two-tailed unpaired t-test. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; n.s., not significant. Scale bars represent 20 μm in (a)