Figure 1.

Cannabinoids ameliorate TNBS-induced colitis and reduce effector cell phenotypes. Female BALB/c mice were injected intrarectally with 100 mg/kg TNBS in 50% ethanol. Starting 3 days before disease induction and continuing daily, mice were gavaged with either: vehicle [10% EtOH in PBS+Tween-80], CBD [10 mg/kg], THC [10 mg/kg], or a combination of THC and CBD [10 mg/kg, both], [n = 10]. Mice were sacrificed at 5 days post disease induction, and blood as well as organs of interest were harvested and analysed for colitis-relevant parameters. [A] Percent weight change and [B] actual weight change over the course of disease. [C] Representative colonoscopy images taken on Day 5. [D] Quantification of colitis scores at indicated time points throughout disease course, [n = 5 per group, per time point]. [E] Representative image and [F] length of colons at sacrifice [n = 10]. [G‐I] ELISAs from serum at sacrifice quantifying disease-relevant biomarkers of colitis severity [n = 4–5]. [J] PAS stain of proximal colons from representative mice taken at sacrifice. [K] Representative flow cytometry psuedocolour dot plots [gate: Live,CD45+] displaying effector cell types in the cLP [n = 6]. [L] Offset histograms of FoxP3 expression [gate: Live, CD45+CD4+] in cLP [n = 6]. Each symbol represents an individual mouse. Data are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean [SEM]. NS, not significant; *p <0.05; **p <0.01, ***p <0.001, ****p <0.0001 by two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. Data are from one experiment representative of three independent experiments.