The present study aimed to evaluate the anti-
colitis effect and underlying mechanisms of
cardamonin, a natural
flavone isolated from Alpinia katsumadai Hayata. The results showed that oral
cardamonin significantly inhibited
dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)- and
2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced
colitis in mice, evidenced by improvement of disease activity index scores,
myeloperoxidase activity, length shortening and histopathological changes of colons. A
rectal administration of
cardamonin also exhibited marked anti-
colitis effect, suggesting that oral
cardamonin might function in a prototype form.
Cardamonin down-regulated levels of IL-1β, TNF-α,
IL-6, NLRP3, cleaved caspase-1, ASC, cleaved IL-1β in colons of
colitis mice. In vitro,
cardamonin inhibited NLRP3
inflammasome activation in THP-1 and bone marrow-derived macrophages. It acted as an AhR activator, enhanced dissociation of AhR/HSP90 complexes, association of AhR/ARNT complexes, AhR nuclear translocation, XRE reporter gene activity, and AhR/ARNT/XRE
DNA binding activity in THP-1 cells. The AhR antagonist
CH223191 obviously abolished NLRP3
inflammasome activation inhibited by
cardamonin. Furthermore,
cardamonin elevated levels of Nrf2 and its target genes NQO1, Trx1, SOD2, HO-1, and the effect on NQO1 was the most obvious. The relationship of
cardamonin-adjusted AhR activation, expressions of Nrf2 and NQO1, and NLRP3
inflammasome activation was confirmed by using
CH223191, siAhR, ML385 and siNQO1, respectively. Finally,
CH223191 was shown to abolish amelioration of
cardamonin on DSS- and TNBS-induced
colitis, inhibition of NLRP3
inflammasome activation and up-regulation of Nrf2 and NQO1 levels in colons. Taken together,
cardamonin ameliorated
colitis in mice through the activation of AhR/Nrf2/NQO1 pathway and consequent inhibition of NLRP3
inflammasome activation.