Fig. 1: Peripheral administration of CRH contributed to the deterioration of IBD.

C57BL/6 mice were administered DSS (3%) for 6 days (and a control group was provided with water only for comparison). For the CRH treatment group, CRH (or vehicle only) was intraperitoneally injected at a dose of 50 μg/kg body weight from day 1 to day 6 using saline as the vehicle. Body weight loss, stool consistency, occult or gross blood per rectum, and colon length were then recorded by two researchers who were blinded to the treatments. A–D In comparison with the DSS + vehicle group, mice in the DSS + CRH group demonstrated a significant aggravation of IBD-associated changes in body weight, DAI score, and colon length (n = 8 per group). **P < 0.01 vs. the control group; ##P < 0.01 vs. the DSS + vehicle group.