Adoptive transfer of CD11c⁺ dendritic cells isolated from OVA-tolerant mice reduces severity of experimental colitis.

(Panel A) Characterization of DCs isolated from spleens of naive and OVA treated mice (nDC and tDC, respectively): The frequency of the CD40⁺, CD80⁺, and CD86⁺CD11c⁺ MHCII⁺ cells in DC preparations and the fluorescence intensity (MFI) geometric means of these markers were assessed by flow cytometry. (Panel B) Temporal changes in body weight: body weight was taken on a daily basis from 1 to 5 days after TNBS instillation and is represented as mean percentage in relation to the mean initial value (100%). (Panel C) Clinical signs: Clinical signs of colitis were evaluated for the presence of diarrhea, rectal prolapse, bleeding, and cachexia, assigning a score ranging from 0 to 2, with 0: no change, 1: slight change, and 2: severe change. Data are expressed as mean and S.E.M. (n = 5) and are representative of three independent experiments. ANOVA followed by Bonferroni post-test were used to determine statistical significance (p <0.05).