Fig. 2.

Severity of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in neonatal rat model. A: histological NEC score in the dam-fed group (DF) (△; n = 18), formula-fed group (FF) (●; n = 18), and group that was formula fed with 1.5% pomegranate seed oil added (FF + PSO) (◆; n = 19) groups are shown. Ileal damage was assessed using the histological scoring scale of 0 (normal) to 4 (necrosis) as previously described (18, 33, 50). Animals with scores ≥2 are considered NEC positive. B: representative histology shows area of damage to ileal architecture in the FF group (histological score 2.0) compared with the ileum of FF + PSO (histological score 1.5) or DF controls (histological score 0.5). Magnification: ×200.