Fig. 3

Effects of ABX treatment on peripheral cellular immune function of broiler chickens with cages and ground litter floor pens. The frequencies of T (A), Th (B) and Tc (C) of peripheral blood lymphocytes were analyzed by flow cytometry. Peripheral blood lymphocytes were stimulated with concanavalin A (ConA) (D), and the stimulation index (SI) was calculated as described in the Materials and methods section. The levels of IL-1β (E), IL-4 (F), IL-10 (G), IL-17 (H) and IFN-γ (I) in serum were analyzed by ELISA kit. The mRNA levels of TLR2 (J), TLR4 (K), NF-κB (L), IL-1β (M), IL-4 (N), IL-6 (O), IL-10 (P), IFN-γ (Q), TGF-β1(R) and TNF-α (S) in spleen were analyzed by RT-PCR. All graphs are presented as mean, with the standard deviation (SD) shown via the whiskers. The main effect and interaction effects were analyzed using the general linear model (GLM) procedure, with the P values for the main effects written out below each plot. The one-way ANOVA and multiple comparisons were performed when interactive effects differed significantly. The lowercase letters on the bar charts indicate significant differences (P < 0.05). Cage: cage control group; Cage + ABX: cage with ABX group; Litter: ground litter control group; Litter + ABX: ground litter with ABX group