Pretreatment with intestinal trefoil factor alleviates stress-induced gastric mucosal damage via Akt signaling

Figure 4 Inhibition of the Akt signaling pathway attenuated the protective effects of intestinal trefoil factor in vivo. Gastric mucosal changes were presented in each group. A: Gross morphological appearance; B: Gastric lesion index (GLI); C: Histopathological analysis (Hematoxylin and eosin staining, magnification: 100 ×); and D: The expression of occludin, zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1), Akt, and pAkt were determined. Inhibition of the Akt signaling pathway by LY294002 significantly attenuated the protective effects of intestinal trefoil factor (ITF) in vivo. ^aP < 0.05 vs control group; ^bP < 0.05 vs water immersion restraint stress (WIRS) group.