Fig. 3

FMT from mice exposed to CMC exacerbated AP in GF mice. a Schematic diagram of the experimental design using germ-free (GF) mice. Mice in the GF-FMT-Ctrl group received FMT from control mice on the first 7 days, while mice in the GF-FMT-CMC group received FMT from mice exposed to CMC, and on the 7th day, after fasting for 8 h, mice in two groups were given intraperitoneal injections of caerulein (CAE) to induce AP. b Principal coordinates analysis (PcoA) plot assessing beta diversity. Relative abundance distribution of bacteria in phylum (c) and genus (d) level. e The cladogram representing the significantly different microbial features between GF-FMT-Ctrl and GF-FMT-CMC groups. f Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis showing bacterial taxa that were significantly different in abundance between GF-FMT-Ctrl and GF-FMT-CMC groups. g Relative abundance of potentially pathogenic bacteria predicted based on the BugBase database. h Representative images of pancreatic H&E staining. i Pancreas-to-body weight ratio. j Histologic score. k Serum amylase. l Serum lipase. m Serum IL-6. n Serum TNF-α. n = 8. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001****p < 0.0001. GF mice, germ-free mice; FMT, fecal microbiota transplantation