Table 1.
Sequences of oligonucleotide primers used for quantitative real-time RT-PCR.
Fig 1.
Representative endoscopic images from dogs with large intestinal inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) included in the study.
(A) Marked friability, increased granularity and erosions. (B) Increased friability, granularity and erosions. Multiple superficial ulcers. (C) Increased erosions (D) Increased granularity and friability. Hyperemic and ulcerated mucosa.
Fig 2.
Representative photomicrographs of colonic mucosa endoscopic biopsy sections from dogs with large intestinal inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) included in the study.
(Α) Mild to moderate surface epithelial injury (focal degeneration and focal loss of epithelium), mild crypt hyperplasia (basophilic and thickened lining accompanied by mild distortion), mild crypt dilatation, fibrosis among crypts and mild lymphocytic/plasmacytic inflammation. (Β) Moderate crypt hyperplasia and dilatation and irregular orientation of certain crypts. Mild fibrosis/atrophy and focally moderate lymphocytic/plasmacytic inflammation separating crypts. (C) Mild crypt hyperplasia, moderate crypt dilatation/distortion, crypt atrophy and necrosis, and moderate fibrosis. Moderate infiltration of the lamina propria by lymphocytes and to a lesser extent by plasma cells, neutrophils and macrophages. (D) Severe crypt hyperplasia with branching, dilatation and loss of orientation. Moderate fibrosis and severe infiltration of the lamina propria by lymphocytes and plasma cells. A,B,C,D: Hematoxylin and Eosin staining, bar = 100 μm.
Fig 3.
Relative mRNA expression of IL-1β (A), IL-2 (B), IL-12p40 (C), IL-23p19 (D), TNF-α (E) and CCL28 (F) in the colonic mucosa of healthy control dogs and dogs with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Data is presented as median with 25th and 75th quartiles in each box plot. The whiskers indicate the highest and lowest data within 1.5 times the lengths of the quartiles. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. AU: arbitrary units, IL: interleukin, TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor- alpha, CCL28: C-C motif chemokine ligand 28.
Fig 4.
Relative mRNA expression of IL-1β (A), IL-2 (B), IL-12p40 (C), IL-23p19 (D), TNF-α (E) and CCL28 (F) in the colonic cytobrush samples of healthy control dogs and dogs with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Data is presented as median with 25th and 75th quartiles in each box plot. The whiskers indicate the highest and lowest data within 1.5 times the lengths of the quartiles. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. AU: arbitrary units, IBD: inflammatory bowel disease, IL: interleukin, TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor- alpha, CCL28: chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 28.
Fig 5.
Relative mRNA expression of IL-1β (A), IL-2 (B), IL-12p40 (C), IL-23p19 (D), TNF-α (E) and CCL28 (F) in the colonic mucosa of low and high CCECAI score dogs with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Data is presented as median with 25th and 75th quartiles in each box plot. The whiskers indicate the highest and lowest data within 1.5 times the lengths of the quartiles. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. AU: arbitrary units, IBD: inflammatory bowel disease, IL: interleukin, TNF-α: tumor necrosis factor- alpha, CCL28: chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 28.
Fig 6.
Correlation between IL-1β and IL-23p19 (A) and CCL28 (B) relative mRNA expression in the colonic mucosa of dogs with large intestinal inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (n = 26), as determined by Spearman’s rank correlation. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. AU: arbitrary units, CCL28: C-C motif chemokine ligand 28, IL: interleukin, r: Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.