Potential protective effects of the water-soluble Chinese propolis on experimental ulcerative colitis

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the outcome of Chinese water-soluble propolis(WSP) on the inflammatory response and oxidative stress(OS) of colonic mucosa in rats with ulcerative colitis. METHODS: Dextran sulfate sodium(DSS) was employed to establish the ucerative colitis(UC) rat model. Fortyeight male rats were arbitrarily separated into six groups, namely control, UC, low-dose water-soluble propolis(LWSP), medium-dose water-soluble propolis(M-WSP), high-dose water-soluble propolis(H-WSP), and sulfasalazine(Sulfa). In this study, we adopted a method of pre-administration and reconstruction of the model that assessed the water-soluble propolis mediated protection against DSS-induced UC rats. Moreover, we examined the body weight(BW), disease activity index(DAI), bloody stool, colon length, and intestinal mucosal injury index of rats. In addition, using enzyme linked immunosorbent assays, we assessed indicators, such as, colonic myeloperoxidase(MPO), interleukin-6(IL-6), interleukin-9(IL-9), tumor necrosis factor-ɑ(TNF-ɑ), superoxide dismutase(SOD), malondialdehyde, and glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) levels. RESULTS: The pro-inflammatory cytokine expression, as well as OS, was increased in the model rats. However, upon WSP intervention, both pro-inflammatory cytokine levels and OS reduced dramatically, and the therapeutic effect was dose-dependent. CONCLUSION: WSP downregulates OS by enhancing the function of endogenous antioxidant enzymes like SOD and GSH-Px, that inhibit neutrophil activity, as well as diminish pro-inflammatory cytokines like TNF-ɑ, IL-6, and IL-9, along with mechanisms that attenuate intestinal inflammation in UC rat model.