FIGURE 4.

Splenda has no effect on 3D-SM or histological scores but promotes tissue MPO activity in mice with ileitis. A, En face stereomicroscopic images of AKR and SAMP ileal mucosa after 47 days of supplementation of Splenda at the maximum FDA-approved dose (experiment 2, medium dose, AKR vs SAMP mice, n = 6/group, supplementation started at 25.2 ± 2.4 weeks of age). Notice similar 3D stereoenterotype for SAMP cobblestone ileitis and the healthy mucosa in AKR mice. B, Cumulative 3D-SMAPgut scores on mucosal surface morphology for the colon (corrugation score/cm) and ileum (percentage of abnormal mucosa). Despite the positive trend (upward lines connecting means), there was no statistical difference between groups in all 3 Splenda experiments, irrespective of dose. C, Average size for average cobblestone for each centimeter of the distal ileum. D, MPO activity from colon and ileum tissue at the end of the experiment. Notice that increased MPO occurred only in mice with ileitis. Inset: Example of MPO activity for 3 tissues with different MPO reactivities. Notice the reproducibility among triplicates (Supplementary Table 1). E, Histological scores of the colon and ileum. Notice that there were no differences between groups.