Among these reports, Yan et al. (2012) revealed that oral administration of berberine (100 mg/kg of body weight in mice) significantly ameliorated DSS-induced intestinal injury and colitis associated with decreasing the disruption of barrier function and apoptosis of colon epithelium, thus inhibiting the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α, IFN-γ, KC, and IL-17 production of colonic macrophages and promoting the apoptosis of colonic macrophages through down-regulating the activation of MAPK and NF-κB (Yan et al., 2012). This evidence concerns the gene TNF and colitis.