There is no cure for autoimmune chronic
inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD patients commonly use complementary and alternative medications of which the safety, efficacy, and interaction with standard-of-care
therapies are not fully known. Thus the consequences can become life-threatening.
Sulfasalazine commonly used in IBD, potentially has severe adverse effects, including
infertility,
pulmonary fibrosis, lack of response, and ultimately patients may require intestinal resection. We hypothesized that
green tea polyphenols (GrTP, EGCG) and
sulfasalazine have similar anti-inflammatory properties.
METHODS: DSS-treated animals developed severe bloody
diarrhea and
colitis (score 0-4, 3.2 ± 0.27).
IL-10 deficient mice developed severe
enterocolitis as manifested by
diarrhea,
rectal prolapse, and colonic lesions. Animals tolerated regimens (GrTP, EGCG,
sulfasalazine) with no major side effects, and further developed less severe
colitis.
IL-10 deficient animals became moribund on high dose, while tolerated low and Mid doses with significant improved symptoms of
enterocolitis. GrTP, EGCG, and
sulfasalazine significantly ameliorated colonic damage and histological scores in treated animals in a similar manner (GrTP vs. DSS p < 0.05; EGCG,
sulfasalazine vs. DSS p < 0.01). The inflammatory markers TNFα (3-fold),
IL-6 (14-fold), and
serum amyloid A (40-fold) increased in colitic animals and significantly decreased with treatment regiments. In contrast, circulatory
leptin levels decreased in colitic animals (twofold). EGCG additionally reduced
leptin levels (p < 0.01) while GrTP and
sulfasalazine had no effect on
leptin levels (p < 0.05). Hepatic and colonic
antioxidants were significantly depleted in colitic animals and treatment regiments significantly restored
antioxidants levels.
CONCLUSION: