Abstract

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are chronic recurrent inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) of unknown origin. Oxidative stress is believed to be a key factor in the pathogenesis of the mucosal damage in IBD. The aqueous extract of Hyphaena thebaica fruits showed an antioxidant activity; this is due to the substantial amount of their water-soluble phenolic contents. This study was undertaken to study the effect of H. thebaica in experimentally induced IBD. Sprague Dawley rats were pretreated orally for 5 days with distilled water in control, H. thebaica 500 mg/kg in acetic acid + H. thebaica group and 5-aminosalisylic acid (5-ASA) 100 mg/kg in acetic acid + 5ASA groups. Colitis was induced by transrectal administration of 4% acetic acid on 5th day. All the animals were sacrificed with ether overdose 48 h after colitis induction, and 10 cm colon segment was resected from distal end. Colon was weighed (for disease activity index) and scored macroscopically and microscopically after histological staining. Biochemical assessments included myeloperoxidase (MPO) and tissue catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) measurements. H. thebaica showed significant prevention of increase in colon weight and disease activity index along with decrease in macroscopic and microscopic lesion score as compared to control group. Significant improvement was observed in the levels of MPO, CAT and SOD, except GSH. However, the effect of H. thebaica was significantly less than 5-ASA. H. thebaica at 500 mg/kg showed significant amelioration of experimentally induced IBD, which may be attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Key words: Colitis, antioxidant, Hyphaena thebaica, myeloperoxidase, catalase, superoxide.