Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a serious hazard to public health, but the precise etiology of the disease is unclear. High intake of red meat diet is closely related to the occurrence of IBD. In this study, we investigated whether the high intake of red meat can increase the sensitivity of
colitis and the underlying mechanism. Mice were fed with different levels of red meat for 8 weeks and then the colonic contents were analyzed by
16S rRNA sequencing. Then 3%
dextran sulfate sodium was used to induce
colitis in mice. We observed the severity of
colitis and inflammatory
cytokines. We found that high-dose red meat caused intestinal microbiota disorder, reduced the relative abundance of Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group, Faecalibaculum, Blautia and Dubosiella, and increased the relative abundance of Bacteroides and Alistipes. This in turn leads to an increase in
colitis and inflammatory
cytokine secretion. Moreover, we found that high red meat intake impaired the colon barrier integrity and decreased the expression of ZO-1,
claudin, and
occludin. We also found high red meat intake induced the production of more inflammatory
cytokines such as IL-1β, TNF-α,
IL-17, and
IL-6 and inflammatory inducible
enzymes such as COX-2 and iNOS in
dextran sulfate sodium-induced
colitis. These results suggest that we should optimize the diet and reduce the intake of red meat to prevent the occurrence of IBD.