Figure 5. Effects of punicic acid on TNBS-induced colitis.

Rats were gavaged with punicic acid (PA) dissolved in PBS (400 µg/0.5 ml) or PBS alone (0.5 ml) once a day for 10 days before the initiation of TNBS treatment. For the induction of colitis, rats were anesthetized, then they received an intrarectal administration of TNBS (250 µl, 150 mg/Kg) dissolved in 50% ethanol in 0.9% NaCl. Control rats received the vehicle ethanol or a saline solution using the same technique as described previously. Animals were sacrificed 2 days after TNBS administration. Macroscopic and histological analysis of colons were evaluated blindly by two investigators. Photomicrographs (magnification ×40) are representative of H&E stained slides of paraffin embedded colonic tissues recovered from (A) controls, (B) TNBS alone and (C) TNBS plus PA . Histologic and macroscopic lesions following TNBS treatment are represented by Wallace score (D) and Ameho score (E) as described in Materials and methods. The tissues are representative of 8 rats from each experimental group (* p<0.01 between TNBS and PA+TNBS).