fig7

Figure 7. Effect of in vitro fermentation supernatants from chRG-I on intestinal barrier integrity after 48 h. The apical side of Caco-2/immune cell co-cultures were exposed for 48 h to fermentation supernatants obtained from 15 donors who participated in the chRG-I intervention study. TEER was measured to assess barrier integrity and is expressed as a percentage of the initial baseline value, which was set at 100%. Grey bars are controls and green bars are chRG-I treatments. Data represent mean ± SD. Red dashed line indicates positive control stimulation with PWM. Differences between treatments and the corresponding blank control were analyzed using two-way ANOVA with Šídák’s multiple comparisons test. * P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001, **** P < 0.0001. P-values include < 0.0001, 0.0251, < 0.0001, 0.0005, 0.0002, 0.0044, 0.0021, 0.0025, 0.0005, 0.0150, < 0.0001, 0.6048, 0.1242, 0.0017, 0.0291, and < 0.0001 for donors A-O and the average donor, respectively. TEER: Transepithelial electrical resistance; PWM: pokeweed mitogen; chRG-I: RG-I derived from chicory root; SD: standard deviation; ANOVA: analysis of variance.