Abstract
Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disorder that affects colon and rectum. Treatments in many UC patients remain variably effective and are associated with considerable adverse effects. So the present study was undertaken to explore the antiinflammatory effects of emu oil, glycyrrhizin, and combination of emu oil and glycyrrhizin in acetic acid-induced UC in rats. UC was induced by intracolonic instillation of 5 % acetic acid in rats. Emu oil and glycyrrhizin were orally administered to test groups. Severity of colitis was scored macroscopically and microscopically. The levels of myeloperoxidase and antioxidant enzymes namely catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase were assessed spectrophotometrically. Expressions of PPARγ and TNFα were studied by real-time PCR. Acetic acid caused severe damage to colon and rectum. Emu oil and glycyrrhizin were found to significantly reduce macroscopic and microscopic lesions and decrease levels of myeloperoxidase. There was a significant improvement of antioxidant levels in treatment groups compared to acetic acid group. Combination of emu oil and glycyrrhizin showed a markedly greater modulation of PPARγ and TNFα expression than emu oil and glycyrrhizin when administered alone. Combination of emu oil and glycyrrhizin might have had synergistic effects in regulating PPARγ and TNFα. Further studies on mechanism of action of emu oil and glycyrrhizin combination would pave the way to define possibility of this combination as effective in the management of UC.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the Dean, Madras Veterinary College and the Director of Research, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University for funding and providing infrastructure to carry out the research. We sincerely thank Dr. Daniel J. Chandran, Dr. John Kirubakaran and Dr. Gururaj, Department of Veterinary Microbiology, Madras Veterinary College, for providing guidance about real-time PCR studies. We are grateful to Dr. Tensing Gnanaraj for his continuous support on the study and greatly acknowledge the efforts of VR3 Emu farms and Hatchery Unit (Pondicherry) for providing Emu oil required for the study as gratis. We thank Dr. Hariharan (late) for his valuable support for the study. We acknowledge efforts of Dr. Ramesh for his support in the study. We also appreciate and thank Basker, Shriharsh, Chandramohan, Sumathi, Venkat, Baisakhi, Bhuvana, Venkatesan, and Uthrakumar for their inputs and help in conducting this study.
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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Sethuraman, S.N., Swaminathan, S., Nelson, S.B. et al. Modulation of PPARγ and TNFα by emu oil and glycyrrhizin in ulcerative colitis. Inflammopharmacol 23, 47–56 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-014-0226-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-014-0226-8