Time-series reveals processes underlying colon inflammation and repair

To elucidated through an unbiased manner which genes and pathways are differentially regulated during mouse colonic inflammation followed by a tissue regeneration phase. In particular, we took advantage of the widely used dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced model of colitis. This model is one of the few characterized by a phase of damage followed by a phase of regeneration. Therefore, this model gave the possibility to identify also sets of genes essential in the regeneration phase, a key step towards the resolution of the inflammation. In short, mice were exposed to DSS in the drinking water for 7 days, then allowed to recover for the following 7 days. During this period, we collected colonic tissue samples every second day to then be analyzed by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Next, we performed a RNA-seq analysis from colonic samples throughout the experiment and computed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) taking the complete kinetics of expression into consideration for p-value estimation using EdgeR. C57BL/6J female mice were treated with 2.5% DSS in order to induce colinic inflammation. 2-3 animals were sacrificed at different time points when the colonic tissue was collected.