TNF and colitis: To evaluate whether the protection from colitis induced by DSS in mice with GC treatment was associated with a reduction in the production of proinflammatory cytokines, after DSS challenge, expression levels of TNFα, IL-1β, and IL-6 in colons of control or GC treated mice were detected using ELISA (Figure 3(a)) and qPCR (Figure 3(b)).