Tongxie Yaofang enhances the homing efficiency of exogenous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells to the colonic mucosa and alleviates ulcerative colitis

Figure 3 Tongxie Yaofang synergizes with exogenous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells to ameliorate ulcerative colitis symptoms. A: Changes in body weight during the study; B: Disease activity index scores of experimental rats; C: Representative images of colon length; D: Quantification of colon length; E: Representative hematoxylin and eosin-stained histological images; F: Histological scores; G-I: The mRNA levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (G), interleukin (IL)-6 (H), and IL-1β (I) in colon tissues assessed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction; J-L: Protein levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (J), IL-6 (K), and IL-1β (L) measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in colon tissues; M: Serum fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran concentrations; N and O: MRNA levels of claudin-4 (N) and zonula occludens-1 (O) assessed by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction; P-R: Protein expression of claudin-4 and zonula occludens-1. Data are presented as mean ± SD, n = 8 rats per group. ^aP < 0.001, compared with the control group; ^bP < 0.05, ^cP < 0.01, ^dP < 0.001, compared with the dextran sulfate sodium group; ^eP < 0.05, ^fP < 0.01, ^gP < 0.001, compared with the high-dose Tongxie Yaofang + bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells group. CON: Control group; DSS: Dextran sulfate sodium; TXYF-L: Low-dose Tongxie Yaofang; TXYF-H: High-dose Tongxie Yaofang; BMSCs: Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells; TNF-α: Tumor necrosis factor-α; IL-6: Interleukin-6; IL-1β: Interleukin-1β; ZO-1: Zonula occludens-1.