Fig. 1

Pathological findings of the colonic mucosa of rats in the three groups. At d3 and d5, the colonic villus was intact by HE staining in all three groups. Hemangiectasis was found in both the colitis and pair-fed groups (a); more vessels were found and indicated by arrows. Furthermore, in both the colitis and pair-fed groups, the basal layer under the epithelium was obviously loose and the space between the muscle and epithelium layers was larger than that of the control group (a and b). Each figure was measured for three times at intervals (the space between the muscle and epithelium layers) as indicated by dotted line in (a) and all data of intervals were analyzed in (b). Scale bar = 100 μm. * P < 0.05 vs control group; # P < 0.05 vs colitis group