Which anatomical feature is enlarged in axenic animals?

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Multiple Choice

Which anatomical feature is enlarged in axenic animals?

Explanation:
Germ-free (axenic) animals lack normal gut microbiota, and this absence profoundly changes the gut’s structure and function. The cecum is the site of major hindgut fermentation, and without microbes to process fiber, luminal contents accumulate and the cecal wall and contents distend and hypertrophy. This leads to a noticeably enlarged cecum in axenic animals. In contrast, immune tissues such as the thymus and lymph nodes are typically smaller or underdeveloped in germ-free animals due to reduced antigenic stimulation, and the liver size isn’t characteristically increased by axenia. So the enlarged structure is the cecum.

Germ-free (axenic) animals lack normal gut microbiota, and this absence profoundly changes the gut’s structure and function. The cecum is the site of major hindgut fermentation, and without microbes to process fiber, luminal contents accumulate and the cecal wall and contents distend and hypertrophy. This leads to a noticeably enlarged cecum in axenic animals. In contrast, immune tissues such as the thymus and lymph nodes are typically smaller or underdeveloped in germ-free animals due to reduced antigenic stimulation, and the liver size isn’t characteristically increased by axenia. So the enlarged structure is the cecum.

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