Fig. 3

Anti-COX-2 IF images of colon samples from the saline (negative control) and the acetic acid-induced UC groups stained with green fluorescent compounds (ALEXA, AuNPs, or both) and DAPI (blue) for nuclei. a Negative control stained with ALEXA standard protocol (A1) with anti-COX-2 and ALEXA (green). b Negative control stained with modified ALEXA protocol (A2) with anti-COX-2 and ALEXA. c Negative control stained with nanoparticle protocol 1 (NP1) with anti-COX-2 and AuNPs (green) instead of ALEXA. d Negative control stained with nanoparticle protocol 2 (NP2) with anti-COX-2 and AuNPs instead of ALEXA. e Positive control stained with A1. f Positive control stained with A2. g Positive control stained with NP1. h Positive control stained with NP2. i Positive control stained with nanoparticle protocol (NP3) with anti-COX-2 + AuNPs with 1:200 ALEXA. j Positive control stained with NP3 (with 1:400 dilution of ALEXA). k UC positive control stained with NP3 (with 1:800 dilution of ALEXA). Magnifications, × 200. Scale bar = 50 μm