Figure 1. Increased Lethality and Disease Activity in Il23R^ΔIEC Mice in Chronic Intestinal Inflammation.

Colitis was induced by cyclic administration of 2% DSS (n = 10 male animals/group).

(A and B) Weight loss (A) and overall survival (B) were monitored every other day until day 30.

(C) Representative histologies (H&E) of DSS-treated Il23r^ΔIEC and Il23r^fl mice on day 30.

(D) The histological score displays the combined score of inflammatory cell infiltration and tissue damage.

(E) Colonic sections from Il23r^ΔIEC and Il23r^fl mice were immunostained with antibodies for BrdU.

(F) Positively stained cells were counted per high-power field (HPF, 4003).

(G) The columns represent the median of the colon length obtained from 10 animals/group postmortem on day 30.

(H) Overall disease activity index on day 30.

(I) Colon transcript levels of STAT3-dependent proliferation-associated Reg3b and Reg3g mRNA in Il23r^ΔIEC (n = 10 males) and IL23R^fl (n = 10 males) mice (qRT-PCR).

Significance was determined using two-tailed Student’s t test and is expressed as the mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001.