Figure 11From: Safety evaluation of the antimicrobial peptide bovicin HC5 orally administered to a murine modelCytokine production in small intestine of five-week old female BALB/c mice treated with bovicin HC5 or ovalbumin. The relative expression of IL-12p40 (A), IFN-γ (B), IL-5 (C), IL-13 (D), TNF-α (E), TGF-β (F), IL-10 (G), IL-4 (H) and IL-17 (I) mRNA was determined by real time-PCR and calculated by reference to the β-actin in each sample, using the threshold cycle (Ct) method. Results are shown as the mean value ± SD of duplicate samples from three independent mice within the NC, Bov and PC groups. Differences among treatments were indicated by different lowercase letters and were considered statistically significant by the Bonferroni multiple comparison test (p < 0.05). (NC) negative control group; (Bov) mice treated with bovicin HC5; (PC) positive control group.Back to article page