Research Paper Volume 15, Issue 9 pp 3621—3634

Figure 5. Protective effects of LZ-8 on intestinal damage by CPT-11 in mice. (A) Lengths of the total intestine, small intestine, and colon in mice following different treatments. No obvious changes of the intestinal lengths were observed in mice of the LZ group, but significant shortening of the intestinal lengths was noted in mice of the CPT group. The reduction in intestinal lengths was ameliorated in mice of the LZ+CPT group, compared to the CPT group. Data were presented as mean ± SD, and one-way ANOVA was used for statistical analysis. * indicates P < 0.05, compared with the control group; # indicates P < 0.05, compared with the CPT group. n = 5 mice/group. (B) Microscopic histopathology of the small intestine and colon tissue sections from mice with different treatments (H&E staining, 200×). Normal intestinal architecture was noted in the control and LZ groups. The small intestine section of the CPT and LZ+CPT groups showed an edematous change of the intestinal villi with hyperemia (arrowhead) and prominent infiltration of inflammatory cells into the lamina propria. The major abnormal finding in the colon section was the increase of inflammatory cells in the lamina propria (arrowhead). Compared to the CPT group, the histopathologic alterations were attenuate in the LZ+CPT group, with nearly normal architecture of the colon.