Animal models of intestinal inflammation are important for understanding of the pathogenesis of Crohn disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), the two major forms of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In the dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) colitis, mice are subjected to DSS in drinking water which are toxic to colonic epithelial cells of the basal crypts. The mechanism by which DSS induces intestinal inflammation is unclear but probably the damage of the epithelial monolayer lining the large intestine allowing pro inflammatory intestinal content into the underlying tissue. This model is useful to study the innate immune mechanisms of colitis while B and T-cells are not playing a major part.