Figure 3.

Evaluation of mRNA expression of cytokines in the colons of mice with DSS-induced colitis. mRNA extracted from colonic tissue was prepared for real-time PCR. The mRNA levels of (A) TNF-α, (B) IL-6, (C) IL-1β, and (D) IL-10 were evaluated using each primer and normalized against GAPDH (n = 5). The significance of differences among the DSS-treated groups was assessed using the Mann–Whitney U test, with the level of significance set at p < 0.05 (*) and p < 0.01 (**). PCR, polymerase chain reaction; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; IL, interleukin; GAPDH, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase; SEM, standard error of mean; DSS, dextran sulfate sodium.