Therapeutic efficacy of pycnogenol in experimental inflammatory bowel diseases

Abstract

Pycnogenol was administered for 10 days by gavage to Sprague-Dawley rats fed an elemental diet, then inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was induced by intrarectal administration of ethanol 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). Twelve hours after TNBS treatment, the rats were killed, the colon was assessed by a macroscopic damage score and mucosa homogenate was assayed for myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity. The supplementation of pycnogenol significantly inhibited the macroscopic damage score and MPO activity in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggested that pycnogenol ameliorates TNBS-induced inflammation by radical scavenging activity, and may have beneficial effects as a supplement in enteral nutrition for IBD.

Dietary polyphenols can modulate the intestinal inflammatory response

“…Forty‐three in vivo studies investigating the impact of pure polyphenol standards on intestinal inflammation were found in the literature (Table 4); most of them were carried out in rodent models, 74,75,81,82,86,89–123 with the exception of one human pilot study 124 . Quercetin and its two glycosylated forms (quercitrin and rutin) (10 studies 74,75,90–97 ) and curcumin (7 studies 112–117,124 ) were the most studied polyphenols.…”

Effects of Flavangenol, an Extract of French Maritime Pine Bark on Collagen-Induced Arthritis in Rats

“…Moreover, it has also been shown that procyanidin B1 inhibited the transactivation of NFB driven genes and the increase of NFB-DNA nuclear binding in jurkat T cells (32). On the other hand, anti-inflammatory effects of another pine bark extract were observed in animals with inflammatory bowel disease (33) and in patients with knee osteoarthritis (18). From these observations, it is possible that proanthocyanidin B1, catechin, epicatechin, and other substances in the FG mixture showed additive or synergistic effects on collageninduced arthritis, probably mediated by these antiinflammatory or immunomodulatory actions.…”

Protective Effects of Pycnogenol against Ischemia Reperfusion-Induced Oxidative Renal Injury in Rats

“…[20,56] It has been claimed that PYC has diverse beneficial effects on a wide range of medical conditions, including inflammation, diabetes, asthma, hypertension, attention deficiency hyperactivity disorder, cancer, immune disease, and others. [17] The antioxidant activity of PYC has been demonstrated to protect against various degenerative conditions caused by free radicals, including diabetes-induced oxidative stress, [56] ethanol-induced neuronal cell death, [57] 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid-induced inflammatory bowel disease, [58] and ionizing radiation-induced intestinal damage. [59] The results of the above studies and our investigation strongly suggest that the protective effect of PYC against I/R induced tissue damage observed in this study largely resulted from antioxidant activity, including stabilization in the intracellular antioxidant defense systems and reductions in the lipid peroxidation products and the production of reactive oxygen species.…”