Figure 1.

MD protects against severe clinical disease activity and histological damage. Colitis severity was measured by (a) disease activity index at endpoint in four diet groups: MD, olive oil, corn oil and milk fat diets, (b) colon length at endpoint, (c) rectal prolapse rate of the mice, (d) total histopathological scores, (e) inflammatory infiltrate score (f) epithelial integrity scores (g) ulcers per tissue section and (h) crypt abscesses per tissue section (i) representative H & E stained cross-sections of the distal colon (images taken at 10x magnification). Colons analyzed in (D) were scored for inflammation, ulceration, edema, epithelial integrity, and hyperplasia. n = 30–33 mice/group. Statistical significance was determined by Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn’s post-hoc analysis, means ± SEM. MD: Mediterranean diet; SEM: standard error of the mean. p < 0.05. (See also Figure S1).