Fig. 3: hMSC treatment shows mucosal healing and early sign of immunological response on day 9.

a Schematic showing the treatment regimen of the experiment (n = 22). b Percent abnormal mucosa in PBS, hMSCs, and DEX-treated groups. c Representative comparative stereoscopic view of small intestine from DEX, hMSC, and PBS-treated groups (yellow arrow showing abnormal mucosa; blue arrow showing normal mucosa). d Flow cytometry gating strategy showing e Absolute number of CD3⁺, f CD4⁺, and g CD8⁺ cells in mesenteric lymph nodes (mLN). h Relative gene expression of cytokines from Th-1, Th-2, and Th-17 pathways was measured in total RNA extracted from mesenteric lymph node cells. Gene expression was determined by qRT-PCR, normalized to GAPDH, and expressed as fold change (2-ΔΔCt). i Schematic showing treatment regimen of the experiment (n = 14). j Percent abnormal mucosa in PBS and DEX-treated groups. k Representative comparative stereoscopic view of the small intestine in PBS and DEX treated groups (yellow arrows showing abnormal mucosa). l The inflammatory index for disease severity in SAMP mice treated with PBS and DEX. m Representative histopathology photomicrograph of ileum tissue from PBS, and DEX treated groups (Red triangle= villus distortion, black triangle=crypts hyperplasia, red arrow=immune infiltration in submucosa, black arrow= muscle hypertrophy). The scale bar represents 200 µm. Data were expressed as mean ± SD from at least two independent experiments unless specified. Each data point represents one mouse. In box and whiskers-plot, center line: median; box limits: 25-75 percentile; whiskers: min. to max. with all data points. P < 0.05, P < 0.01, P < 0.001 considered significant, by 1-way ANOVA and unpaired t-test (j, l).