Beneficial Effect of Shikonin on Experimental Colitis Induced by Dextran Sulfate Sodium in Balb/C Mice
Figure 4
Effect of shikonin treatment on histological parameters in acute ulcerative colitis. Three representative colonic haematoxylin/eosin sections: mice received either fresh tap water (a), fresh tap water with 5% DSS (b), or fresh tap water with DSS 5% and treatment with shikonin 25 mg kg−1 (c) as described in Section 2. Inflammatory infiltrate (arrow); replenishment of goblet cells with mucin (star). (d) The severity of inflammation (white bars), extent of inflammation (dotted bars), and crypt damage (lined bars) were determined as described in Table 2. The data presented are representative of three independent experiments with 6 to 10 mice per group. The boundary of the box indicates the 25th and 75th percentiles; the line within the box marks the median. Whiskers indicate the 90th and 10th percentile. **Significantly different from the total histological score of the colitic group, determined by means of a one-way analysis of variance followed by Dunnett’s t-test (). (e) Mucosal myeloperoxidase levels were measured to evaluate the effect of shikonin on the number of neutrophils infiltrating the colon. , ; significantly different from the colitic group; , ; significantly different from the noncolitic group, determined by means of a one-way analysis of variance followed by Dunnett’s t-test ().
