AHR and cholestasis: Further supporting this, Makishima et al., in a cholestasis model, demonstrated that TCDD pretreatment significantly enhanced the production of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF and IL-1B in the plasma of bile duct ligated (BDL) mice, indicating that AhR signaling can markedly worsen cholestasis-associated inflammatory responses (Ozeki et al., 2011).