Figure 3.

RCJ ameliorates colitis by regulating the intestinal barrier function. (A) Alcian blue staining denoting the mucin-secreting goblet cells in the colonic epithelia and PAS-positive cells denoting acid and neutral mucin. (B) IHC staining for MUC2 and MUC4, stained to understand the protective mucin layer. (C) IHC staining for tight junction markers claudin and occludin. (D) Immunostaining for colonic ZO-1, (green) counterstained with the nuclear stain DAPI (blue) and elative intensity, quantitative analysis of the fluorescence by Image J (Fiji 1.54F). All values represent the means ± SD; error bars in the histograms are the standard error of the mean. Scale bars represent 100 µm for the IHC and 50 µm for IF. Statistical significance was determined using one-way ANOVA, followed by the Tukey test. ns: non-significant * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001, **** p ≤ 0.0001.