Fig. 4.

The effects of BRB on DSS-induced pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Mice were administered 3% DSS-incorporated drinking water and concomitantly fed either a control diet or a diet containing 10% BRB powder for 7 days. A control group of mice was administered plain drinking water along with either diet. RNA was isolated from fresh-frozen colon samples and used for QRT-PCR analysis, as described under Materials and Methods. The relative messenger RNA expression levels of (A) TNF α and (B) IL-1β are shown. Data are means ± standard errors of the mean, n = 5 per group. Two-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni's post-test was used to evaluate the effects due to DSS, BRB and their interaction. TNFα was affected by DSS and BRB (P < 0.05). ‘*’ Indicates differences due to DSS and ‘$’ indicates differences due to BRB. A significant increase in IL-1β was observed in the control diet group after DSS administration. No significant increase in IL-1β was observed in mice given BRB. A trend (P = 0.075) was found for BRB to reduce IL-1β in comparison with control diet-fed mice after DSS administration.