Fig. 3

DSG2-deficient animals (DSG2^ΔIEC) exhibit an enhanced susceptibility to dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis. a Relative body weights of DSG2^ΔIEC (ΔIEC) mice (gray rectangles) and their floxed littermates (black circles, DSG2^fl/fl, fl/fl, n = 7 each) were determined daily starting at the time of first DSS administration. b–d Macroscopic images of the colon mucosa obtained by colonoscopy, stool guaiac test with semi-quantitative scoring (n = 6), colonic length, and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of colon sections with morphometric quantification were used to assess the severity of colitis at day 7 after DSS administration (n = 6). e, f The extent of colonic inflammation 7 days after DSS exposure was evaluated by myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and real time RT-PCR for TNFα and IL-1β (n = 3–6). The low cytokine expression in non-treated animals (ctrl) was arbitrarily set as 1. L7 (mouse ribosomal protein) gene was used as an internal control. Bacterial translocation into mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) was quantified as the amount of colonies grown from total MLN homogenates on blood agar plates (n = 7–8). Data in c, d, e are presented as dot plots. Two-tailed Student’s t test was used for statistical analyses of DSS-treated animals. *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001