Lentinan treatment ameliorates DSS-induced colitis in mice.

<p>Oral administration of lentinan was started 7 days prior to DSS treatment. (A) Body weight changes of DSS-induced colitis mice with or without lentinan treatment according to the protocol described in materials and methods. Difference between 100 µg/mouse of lentinan-treated mice and non-treated DSS colitis mice was significant at <i>P</i><0.05 (*). (B) Macroscopic appearance of a representative colon from wild-type (WT) and DSS-colitis mice with or without administration of lentinan. (C) Mean colon lengths were plotted. Items with different letter were significantly different (<i>P</i><0.05). (D) Photograph (×40) of HE-stained paraffin sections of a representative colon from WT mice and DSS-colitis mice with or without administration of lentinan. (E) Histological scores of the colon sections of DSS-colitis mice with or without administration of lentinan. Significance compared to a DSS-treated group, *<i>P</i><0.05. Values represent the means ± SE (<i>n</i> = 6). Experiments were repeated for three times.