In vivo animal studies

C57BL/6 wild-type (WT; Ly5.2) mice were purchased from CLEA Japan (Tokyo, Japan) and Tlr4-knockout (Tlr4^-/-) mice (C57BL/6 background; Ly5.2) from ORIENTAL BioService (Kyoto, Japan). Wild-type littermates of Tlr4^-/- mice were not utilized. Mice were maintained under specific pathogen-free conditions with a 12h dark/light cycle, unless specified. Age- and sex-matched WT Ly5.1 mice were purchased from Taconic Biosciences (Hudson, NY, USA)) and were utilized for bone marrow transplantation experiments. They were maintained at a temperature of 22–25°C and a relative humidity of 45–55%. Male germ-free (GF) mice (C57BL/6 background strain, 6–8-weeks old) were purchased from Sankyo Lab Service Corporation and were housed in the GF Facility of Keio University School of Medicine. Methionine−choline-deficient (MCD) diets were purchased from Research Diets (A02082002BR). Experiments were performed with male mice aged 8–12 weeks. No mice died in any experimental treatment or manipulation. All study protocols comply with institutional guidelines congruent to the Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) guidelines. For sample size, see corresponding figure legends.