In the current study, significantly higher concentrations of acetate, propionate and sodium butyrate were observed in the IL-10−/− mice without treatment compared with the IL-10−/− mice receiving sodium butyrate, which is consistent with a report that the concentration of SCFAs in mice with dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis treated with sodium butyrate were lower than those without treatment [30]. Here, IL10 is linked to colitis.