Figure 6.

ROCK1 inhibitor reverses intestinal fibrosis in a chronic colitis murine model. (a) Schematic diagram of ROCK inhibitor treatment in a DSS-induced chronic colitis model. Mice were treated with 2% DSS to induce chronic inflammation and in the last cycle were intraperitoneally injected with vehicle or ROCK1 inhibitor. (b) Colorectal length, representative images of (c) haematoxylin–eosin-stained sections and (d) Masson's trichrome-stained sections and pathological scores of the distal colon in differently treated mice as described above (n=4 in each group). Scale bar = 100 μm. (e-f) Representative immunohistochemical images showing YAP/TAZ expression examined using an anti-YAP antibody and anti-TAZ antibody in colonic tissues from mice in different groups. Scale bar =50 μm (upper panels) and 20 μm (lower panels). (g-i) Representative immunofluorescence images of α-SMA, fibronectin/FN1 and collagen I expression in colonic tissues from mice in different groups. Scale bar =20 μm. In all cases, the bars in the graphs represent the mean ± S.D. Statistical analyses were performed using Student's t test for continuous variables and Mann-Whitney test for histological scores. Significant differences are shown by *p<0.05, **p<0.01, and ***p<0.001.