Fig. 3

Differential gene expression in brain tissue isolated from mice with colitis reveals an inflammatory signature. Pathway analysis was performed on the differentially expressed genes in the brains of mice treated with DSS compared to control. Significantly enriched terms (adjusted p-value < 0.05) in the KEGG, GO, and Reactome databases are shown (A, B). Genes specifically involved in each term are shown in B. Heatmaps depict the log2FC with upregulated genes shown in red, downregulated genes shown in blue, and unchanged genes shown in white (B). Grey represents genes not involved in that pathway (B). Brain tissue was isolated from male and female control mice, mice treated with 2% DSS for 7 days or 100 μg LPS for 24 h. RNA and protein extracted from homogenized tissues were used for qRT-PCR, ELISA or WB to measure Lcn2 (C), S100A9 and S100A8/A9 (D) expression levels in the brain. For qRT-PCR data, n = 4–13 mice per group. Student’s t test comparing DSS or LPS to control. *** = p < 0.0005, ** = p < 0.005, * = p < 0.05.