Anesthesia was induced with sevoflurane (Abbott Laboratories, Madrid, Spain). Ten to fifteen milliliters of blood were obtained by cardiac

puncture. Subsequently, the MLNs of the ileocecal area and the entire small intestine were dissected, removed, and measured. Finally, a sample of the stool contents of the terminal ileum was obtained. MLNs lymphocytes were obtained as previously described.15, 16 Lamina propria lymphocytes were isolated from the entire small intestine as previously described,17 with slight modifications. Briefly, the whole small intestine was removed en bloc, and the Peyer’s patches, fatty tissue, and mesentery were dissected out. The gut was cut into small pieces and flushed with cold phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) calcium http://www.selleckchem.com/products/smoothened-agonist-sag-hcl.html and free magnesium (Biochrom AG, Berlin, Germany).

Intraepithelial lymphocytes and epithelial cells were liberated from the basement membrane by incubating in Hank’s balanced salt solution (HBSS; BioWhittaker, Verviers, Belgium) with dithiotrheitol (Sigma-Aldrich, St Louis, MO) and thereafter in HBSS containing ehtylene diamine tetraacetic acid (Sigma-Aldrich). Then, segments were incubated in RPMI 1640 medium (BioWhittaker), containing 2 mg/mL of collagenase D (Roche Diagnostics, Barcelona, Spain) and DZNeP molecular weight 1% fetal calf serum (Gibco, Grand Island, NY), and thereafter passed through a stainless-steel sieve and filtered through a packed nylon wool fiber column to remove mucus and dead cells. Collected cells were washed, and the erythrocytes were removed by hypertonic lysis. The resulting cell suspensions from the MLNs and the small intestine were centrifuged. MLNs and lamina propria lymphocytes viability, assessed by trypan blue, was >90% and 80%, respectively. In protocol 1, we determined the distribution, activation state, and phagocytic and migration capacity from the MLNs and lamina propria DCs in 41 rats with cirrhosis and ascites as well as 14 healthy, phenobarbital-treated

MCE age- and sex-matched rats. In protocol 2, we investigated the effects of bowel bacterial decontamination on the activation state and functions of the DCs in 23 rats with cirrhosis and 20 controls. To get this objective, after ascites onset, animals were randomized in two groups to receive orally for 2 weeks either the broad-spectrum nonabsorbable antibiotics, norfloxacin (10 mg/kg/day; Sigma-Aldrich) and vancomycin (16 mg/day; Sigma-Aldrich), or placebo dissolved in drinking water. Frequencies of DCs were determined in MLNs and lamina propria lymphocytes by four-color flow cytometry in a FACScalibur cytometer using CellQuest Pro 3.7 software (Becton-Dickinson, San Jose, CA).