Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
PLoS One. 2013 May 29;8(5):e64152. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0064152. Print 2013.
Traditional medicinal herbs are increasingly used as alternative therapies in patients with inflammatory diseases. Here we evaluated the effect of Wedelia chinensis, a medicinal herb commonly used in Asia, on the prevention of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced acute colitis in mice. General safety and the effect of different extraction methods on the bioactivity of W. chinensis were also explored.
C57BL/6 mice were administrated hot water extract of fresh W. chinensis (WCHF) orally for one week followed by drinking water containing 2% DSS for nine days. WCHF significantly attenuated the symptoms of colitis including diarrhea, rectal bleeding and loss of body weight; it also reduced the shortening of colon length and histopathological damage caused by colonic inflammation. Among four W. chinensis extracts prepared using different extraction techniques, WCHF showed the highest anti-colitis efficacy. Analyses of specific T-cell regulatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-4, IFN-γ, IL-17, TGF-β, IL-12) revealed that WCHF treatment can suppress the Th1 and Th17, but not Th2, responses in colon tissues and dendritic cells of DSS-induced colitis mice. A 28-day subacute toxicity study showed that daily oral administration of WCHF (100, 500, 1000 mg/kg body weight) was not toxic to mice.
Together, our findings suggest that specific extracts of W. chinensis have nutritional potential for future development into nutraceuticals or dietary supplements for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.
传统草药作为替代疗法在炎症性疾病患者中越来越多地被使用。在这里，我们评估了在亚洲广泛使用的药用植物三脉紫菀（Wedelia chinensis）对预防葡聚糖硫酸钠（DSS）诱导的小鼠急性结肠炎的影响。还探索了一般安全性和不同提取方法对 W. chinensis 生物活性的影响。
C57BL/6 小鼠口服新鲜 W. chinensis 的热水提取物（WCHF）一周，然后饮用含 2% DSS 的水 9 天。WCHF 显著减轻了结肠炎的症状，包括腹泻、直肠出血和体重减轻；它还减少了结肠长度的缩短和由结肠炎症引起的组织病理学损伤。在使用不同提取技术制备的四种 W. chinensis 提取物中，WCHF 显示出最高的抗结肠炎功效。对特定的 T 细胞调节细胞因子（TNF-α、IL-4、IFN-γ、IL-17、TGF-β、IL-12）的分析表明，WCHF 治疗可以抑制结肠组织和 DSS 诱导的结肠炎小鼠树突状细胞中的 Th1 和 Th17，但不抑制 Th2 反应。为期 28 天的亚急性毒性研究表明，每日口服 WCHF（100、500、1000mg/kg 体重）对小鼠无毒。
总之，我们的研究结果表明，W. chinensis 的特定提取物具有营养潜力，可用于开发治疗炎症性肠病的营养保健品或膳食补充剂。
