Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin 300192, People's Republic of China.
State Key Laboratory of Component-based Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, People's Republic of China.
Food Funct. 2021 Mar 15;12(5):2211-2224. doi: 10.1039/d0fo02848g.
As a functional bowel disorder, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), especially IBS-diarrhea (IBS-D), affects approximately 9-20% of the population worldwide. Classical treatments for IBS usually result in some side effects and intestinal microbial disorders, which inhibit the clinical effects. Natural edible medicines with beneficial effects and few side effects have received more attention in recent years. Puerarin is the main active ingredient in pueraria and has been used in China to treat splenasthenic diarrhea and as a natural food in folk medicine for hundreds of years. However, there have been no reports of using puerarin in the treatment of IBS-D, and the underlying mechanism is also still unclear. In this study, a comprehensive model that could reflect the symptoms of IBS-D was established by combining neonatal maternal separation (NMS) and adult colonic acetic acid stimulation (ACAAS) in rats. The results showed that puerarin could reverse the abdominal pain and diarrhea in IBS-D rats. The therapeutic effect was realized by regulating the richness of the gut microbiota to maintain the stabilization of the intestinal micro-ecology. Furthermore, the possible mechanism might be related to the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis by the suppressed expression of corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor (CRF) 1. At the same time, intestinal function was improved by enhancing the proliferation of colonic epithelial cells by upregulating the expression of p-ERK/ERK and by repairing the colonic mucus barrier by upregulating occludin expression. All these results suggest that puerarin could exert excellent therapeutic effects on IBS-D.
作为一种功能性肠病，肠易激综合征（IBS），特别是 IBS-腹泻（IBS-D），影响了全世界约 9-20%的人口。IBS 的经典治疗方法通常会导致一些副作用和肠道微生物紊乱，从而抑制临床效果。近年来，具有有益作用和较少副作用的天然食用药物受到了更多关注。葛根素是葛根的主要活性成分，在中国已被用于治疗脾虚腹泻，并在民间医学中作为天然食品使用了数百年。然而，目前尚无关于葛根素治疗 IBS-D 的报道，其潜在机制仍不清楚。在这项研究中，通过在大鼠中结合新生期母体分离（NMS）和成年结肠乙酸刺激（ACAAS）建立了一种能反映 IBS-D 症状的综合模型。结果表明，葛根素可以逆转 IBS-D 大鼠的腹痛和腹泻。这种治疗效果是通过调节肠道微生物丰富度来维持肠道微生态的稳定性来实现的。此外，其可能的机制可能与通过抑制促肾上腺皮质激素释放激素受体（CRF）1 的表达来抑制下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴的活性有关。同时，通过上调 p-ERK/ERK 的表达来增强结肠上皮细胞的增殖，以及通过上调 occludin 表达来修复结肠黏液屏障，从而改善肠道功能。所有这些结果表明，葛根素对 IBS-D 可能具有极好的治疗效果。
