MPD treatment reduces NF-κB activation and proinflammatory cytokine production in the inflamed intestinal mucosa. (A) Surgical intestinal specimens were collected from four different patients with pediatric UC. Biopsies were captured from relatively normal colonic mucosa as control group, others from areas of inflamed mucosa as inflamed group. These biopsies were used for organ culture in the presence or absence of MPD incubation. Nuclear proteins were extracted from cultured explants after 24-h MPD treatment, n = 4. (B) Inflamed colonic mucosa was isolated from DSS-induced colitis with or without MPD treatment, and nuclear or cytosolic proteins were extracted. p65 nuclear abundance and IκBα & β cytosolic abundance were determined, n = 5, NE: nuclear protein. CE: cytosolic protein. Results are expressed as mean ± SEM, **P < 0.01 versus controls, ns, not significant. (C) RNA was extracted from inflamed colonic mucosa, levels of TNF-α, IL-17, IL-23, IFN-γ, IL-12p35 and IL-12p40 were determined with real-time PCR. Results are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 5−6), *P < 0.05 versus controls.