In contrast, in the colon, caspase-3 expression was the highest in the uninfected rats, and at 8 (66%) and 25 (73%) days post-infection, the lowest expression of caspase-3 was observed (p < 0.05), increasing at 40 (64%) and 60 (56%) days, but was still significantly lower in the uninfected rat group (p < 0.05) (Figure 5). Here, CASP3 is linked to infection.