Fig. 5

Macroscopic evaluation. Colitis is characterized by edema, loss of vascular pattern and presence of adherences. a-d Macroscopic aspect of the colon in a control rat (a), ASC-treated rat (b) and PBS-treated rats with diverse severity grades (c and d). e Macroscopic damage score after sacrifice per group. Higher scores represent more severe damage. The score did not achieve statistical difference between the ASC and PBS group. **p < 0.01 ***p < 0.001. f Colon length in mm per group. Colon length decreases with inflammation, the TNBS and PBS groups had significant shorter colons than the healthy colon group and the ASC-treated group. The ASC group shows recovery and is not different from the healthy control group. ***p < 0.001. ASCs adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells, PBS phosphate-buffered saline, TNBS trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid