C57BL/6 mice were bred at the Institute of Laboratory Animal Science, Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Both male and female mice are susceptible to developing severe UC when induced with DSS (Chassaing et al., 2014). An equal number of male and female mice, each weighing 20 ± 2 g, were used in the study. The mice were housed in standard cages, with five mice per cage, and maintained in a controlled environment at a temperature of 22 ± 2 °C and humidity of 55 ± 5%.
