Chimonanthus nitens Oliv. Leaf Granule Ameliorates DSS-Induced Acute Colitis Through Treg Cell Improvement, Oxidative Stress Reduction, and Gut Microflora Modulation

Abstract

The rising incidence of ulcerative colitis has become a new challenge for public health. Chimonanthus nitens Oliv. leaf granule (COG) is a natural medicine used for the treatment of respiratory diseases, which has excellent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. However, the therapeutic effect of COG in ulcerative colitis (UC) has not been reported. Here, the experimental colitis was treated with dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) and COG. After treatment with high (30 g/kg), medium (15 g/kg), and low (7.5 g/kg) doses of COG for 11 consecutive days, the body weight, disease activity index (DAI) score, colon length, colon weight index, and the pathological score of mice were effectively improved. COG significantly reduced the levels of inflammatory cytokines in UC mice in vitro and in vivo and restored the secretion levels of IL-6 and IL-10 in the colon. Meanwhile, compared to mice with colitis, COG-treated mice showed lower levels of MDA, MPO, NO, and eNOS and higher levels of GSH-Px and MAO, which indicated that oxidative stress damage in colitic mice was alleviated by COG. Moreover, less Th17 and more Tregs were observed in the COG-treated groups. In addition, COG improved the diversity and relative abundance of gut microflora in the colon of colitic mice, and Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group and Lachnospiraceae_UCG-006 were obviously regulated at the genus level. In summary, COG has a protective effect on DSS-induced experimental colitis, mainly through inhibition of immune-inflammatory responses and oxidative stress and regulation of mTreg cell responses and intestinal flora composition.

Evaluation of two laboratory model methods for diarrheal irritable bowel syndrome

“…Akkermansia muciniphila was shown to be a human intestinal mucindegrading bacterium (Derrien et al 2004) that can use host-secreted mucus glycoproteins as source of nutrition, leading to erosion of the colonic mucus barrier. Although the intestinal barrier-protective and inflammation-reducing effects of Akkermansia have been reported in many studies, the results of Wang K et al showed an increase in Akkermansia in pathological states, which is consistent with our results (Wang et al 2022;Huang et al 2022). Meanwhile, the controversy over the anti-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory role of Akkermansia was reviewed in a study (Zhang et al 2021b).…”

Syringic Acid Alleviates Dextran Sulfate Sodium-Induced Colitis in Mice by Modulating Gut Microbiota

“…Alistipes are anaerobic bacteria that are typically found in the healthy human gastrointestinal tract . This study found that the administration of DSS reduced the relative abundance of Alistipes , while both SA and FMT treatments restored this reduction.…”

“…Alistipes are anaerobic bacteria that are typically found in the healthy human gastrointestinal tract. 49 This study found that the administration of DSS reduced the relative abundance of Alistipes, while both SA and FMT treatments restored this reduction. Additionally, LPS is known to induce the secretion of various inflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, which can lead to an inflammatory immune response.…”

Astragalus Polysaccharide Alleviates Ulcerative Colitis by Regulating the Balance of mTh17/mTreg Cells through TIGIT/CD155 Signaling

“…Basophils increase in Crohn’s disease and UC and favor the mTh17/mTh1 response in MLNs [ 12 ]. There was a significant increase in the frequencies of CD4 + CCR7 − Foxp3 + and CD4 + CCR7 − IL-10 + mTreg cells and a significant decrease in CD4 + CCR7 − IL-17A + mTh17 cells in the MLNs of the mice with DSS-induced experimental colitis [ 36 ]. In the present study, we also found that the colitis mice presented similar results with lower frequencies of mTreg (CD4 + Foxp3 + , CD4 + CCR7 + Foxp3 + , CD4 + CCR7 − Foxp3 + ) cells and higher mTh17 (CD4 + CCR6 + , CD4 + CCR7 + CCR6 + , CD4 + CCR7 − CCR6 + ) cells.…”