The effect of TNF-α neutralizing antibody treatment on disease onset and progression in DSS induced colitis.

<p><i>A</i>: Comparison of disease activity index (DAI) on day 2, 5 and 9 of DSS treatment in animals that received 5% DSS in drinking water alone (black circles) or with TNF-α neutralizing antibody (grey diamonds). <i>B</i>: Body weight change plotted for control (asterisks), DSS only (black circles) or DSS + TNF-α neutralizing antibody treatment (grey diamonds). Data represents the means ± SEM from 6 animals per day. <i>C</i>: TNF-α protein secretion measured by ELISA on days 2, 5 and 9 of DSS treatment in animals that received 5% DSS in drinking water alone (black circles) or with TNF-α neutralizing antibody (grey diamonds). Data shown are the means ± SEM of 6-animals/day. *<i>P<</i>0.05 and **<i>P<</i>0.001 compared to control colon. <i>D–F</i>: The relative gene expression levels determined by real time PCR for TNF-α (<i>D</i>), IL-1β (<i>E</i>) and Muc2 (<i>F</i>) genes on day 2, 5 and 9 of DSS treatment in animals that received 5% DSS in drinking water alone (black circles) or with TNF-α neutralizing antibody (grey diamonds). The expression levels of all genes were normalized using GAPDH as housekeeping gene and mRNA levels are as fold change over control. Data shown are the means ± SEM of 6-animals/day. *<i>P<</i>0.05 and **<i>P<</i>0.001 compared to control colon.