Table 1. Examples for the protective effects of MSCs in animal colitis models.

Animal	Colitis Model	Type of Stem Cells	Amount, Route and Time of Appl.	In Vivo Effects	Refs.
Sprague-Dawley rat	TNBS	rat BMSC	1 x 107 topically (submucosal injection) and i.v., immediately after TNBS	- i.v. no effect, accumulation in lungs - topically protection, acceleration of healing, expression of VEGF and TGF-β1	Hayashi et al., 2008 [230]
Lewis rat	DSS	rat BMSC	2 x 104/g i.v. on day 2	- no effect on inductive phase, modest promotion of recovery - most growth factors and cytokines remained unchanged, but TGFα was increased and Notch signaling was inhibited	Tanaka et al., 2011 [272]
C57BL/6J mouse	DSS	human BMSC and GMSC	2 x 106 i.p., on day 2	- amelioration of colitis, suppression of CD4+ T lymphocyte infiltration, reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines IFN-γ, IL-6 and IL-17, elevation of IL-10	Zhang et al., 2009 [156]
Balb/c mouse	TNBS	human and mouse ASC	1x105 – 106 i.p., 12 h after TNBS (hASCs and mASCs) and 106 i.p., 6 and 7 days after TNBS (hASCs)	- inhibition of colitis development, partial reversal of already established colitis, decreased MPO activity, reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IFN- γ, IL-6, IL-1β, IL-12) and chemokines (RANTES and macrophage inhibitory protein 2), elevation of IL-10	Gonzalez et al., 2009 [152]
C57BL/6 mouse	DSS	human and mouse ASC	1x105 – 5x106 i.p, on day 2, or in the case of cyclic DSS administration on day 7 of each cycle	- amelioration of colitis, decreased MPO activity, reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IFN- γ, IL-6, IL-1β, IL-12) and chemokines (RANTES and macrophage inhibitory protein 2), elevation of IL-10	Gonzalez-Rey et al., 2009 [153]
C57BL/6J Ico mouse Balb/c mouse	DSS TNBS	untreated and IFN- γ-prestimulated human and mouse BMSC	0.5x106 i.p, on day 0 1x106 i.p, 6 h after TNBS	- IFN- γ-prestimulated cells, but not untreated cells induced protection, decreased serum amyloid A levels, reduced TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-17A, increased the level of IL-10	Duijvestein et al., 2011 [268]
Balb/c mouse	DSS	mouse BMSC	1x106 i.v, on days 2, 5 and 8	- alleviation of colitis, reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-1β	He et al., 2012 [270]
C57BL/6J mouse	DSS	rat DPSC	1x105/10g i.v, on day 3	- protection from colitis via Fas ligand-induced T cell apoptosis	Zhao et al., 2012 [251]
Wistar rat	TNBS	rat ASC and BMSC	2x106 i.p., 4 days after TNBS	- i.p., but not i.v. injected stem cells migrated to the inflamed colon - alleviation of colitis, reduction of epithelial apoptosis and pro-inflammatory cytokine production (TNF-α, IL-1β), elevation of IL-10	Castelo-Branco et al., 2012 [278]
Balb/c mouse C57BL/6 mouse	TNBS DSS	mouse ASC and ASC-induced regulatory macrophages	1x106 i.p, immediately after TNBS, or in the case of chronic colitis on days 8 and 16 1x106 i.p, on day 2, or in the case of chronic colitis on days 4 and 14	- inhibition of colitis development and progression, decreased MPO activity, reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β) and chemokines (RANTES)	Anderson et al., 2013 [279]
C57BL/6 mouse	DSS	mouse ASC	1x106 i.v or i.p., on days 2 and 5	- i.p. no effect - amelioration of colitis only in the case of i.v. administration	Goncalves et al., 2014 [269]
Balb/c mouse	DSS	mouse BMSC	2.5x106 i.v, on day 7	- accelerated recovery, improved epithelial barrier function via restoration of E-cadherin expression, reduction of oxidative stress	Sun et al., 2015 [280]
C57BL/6 mouse	DSS	untreated and IFN- γ-overexpressed human UCSC	1x106 i.v., on day 2	- IFN- γ-overexpressed stem cells ameliorated colitis, reduced the number of Th1/Th17 cells and increased that of Treg/Th2 cells, decreased TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β, upregulated indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase expression	Chen et al., 2015 [281]

Abbreviations for MSCs by origin: BMSC – bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell, GMSC – gingival mesenchymal stem cell, ASC – adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cell, DPSC – dental pulp mesenchymal stem cell, UCSC – umbilical cord-derived stem cell.