Figure 1.

HBO₂ ameliorates the course of DSS-induced colitis in BALB/c mice. Male BALB/c mice at the age of 10–12 weeks were randomly assigned into 4 groups (n = 5 mice/group/experiment): CTRL: control mice, CTRL + HBO₂: control mice undergoing HBO₂ (60 min/2.4 ATM, 2x/day, days 1–8), DSS: mice receiving dextran sodium sulphate (5% w/v, days 1–7), and DSS + HBO₂: DSS treated mice undergoing HBO₂. (a) Disease activity index (DAI) assessed by daily scoring of the body weight change, stool consistency, and occult/gross rectal bleeding; (b) the stacked bars on the bar chart represent average score of each symptom in the total DAI score for particular experimental group, including weight changes, stool consistency, and rectal bleeding score; (c) colon length measured in cm; (d) histological samples of gut tissue were stained with haematoxylin and eosin and severity of colitis assessed using modified Geboes score; (e) representative histological samples of distal colon, CTRL and CTRL + HBO₂: normal intact colonic mucosa, DSS: the mucosa shows severe inflammation and ulceration extending into the deep portions of the mucosa with loss of crypts, and DSS + HBO₂: structural restoration with mild inflammatory infiltration and crypt distortion; magnification 200x. Presented data (mean ± s.e.m.) are representative results from one experiment with n = min. 5 mice/group. ^∗Statistically different from CTRL P < 0.05 and ^∗∗ P < 0.01; ^#statistically different from DSS P < 0.05 and ^## P < 0.01; ^†statistically different from CTRL + HBO₂.