Fan Yaohua, Fan Yanqun, Liu Kunfeng, Lonan Piyanuch, Liao Feng, Huo Yuhang, Zhong Xiaohua, Liang Yueliang, Wang Yaxin, Hou Shaozhen, Lai Xiaoping, Li Geng, Kuang Weihong
Traditional Chinese Medicine Innovation Research Center, Shenzhen Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Shenzhen, China.
Xiamen Yan Palace Seelong Food Co., Ltd., Xiamen, China.
Front Pharmacol. 2021 Apr 21;12:632602. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.632602. eCollection 2021.
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with a complex aetiology that commonly recurs. Most drugs for UC treatment interfere with metabolism and immune responses, often causing some serious adverse reactions. Therefore, the development of alternative treatments, including nutritional supplements and probiotics, have been one of the main areas of current research due to fewer side effect. As both a Chinese medicine and a food, edible bird's nest (EBN) has high nutritional value. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that it has anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory, antiviral and neuroprotective effects. In this study, UC was induced with dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) to investigate the protective effect of EBN on colitis mice and the related mechanism. The body weight, faecal morphology and faecal occult blood results of mice were recorded every day from the beginning of the modelling period. After the end of the experiment, the length of the colon was measured, and the colon was collected for histopathological detection, inflammatory factor detection and immunohistochemical detection. Mouse spleens were dissected for flow cytometry. The results showed that in mice with colitis, EBN improved symptoms of colitis, reduced colonic injury, and inhibited the increases in the levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and TNF-α. The T helper 17 (Th17)/regulatory T (Treg) cell balance was restored by decreasing the expression of IL-17A and IL-6 in intestinal tissues, increasing the expression of TGF-β, and decreasing the number of Th17 cells in each EBN dose group. These findings suggest that EBN has a protective effect on DSS-mediated colitis in mice, mainly by restoring the Th17/Treg cell balance.
溃疡性结肠炎（UC）是一种病因复杂且常复发的炎症性肠病（IBD）。大多数用于治疗UC的药物会干扰新陈代谢和免疫反应，常引发一些严重的不良反应。因此，由于副作用较少，开发包括营养补充剂和益生菌在内的替代疗法一直是当前研究的主要领域之一。作为一种中药兼食品，燕窝（EBN）具有很高的营养价值。现代药理学研究表明，它具有抗炎、免疫调节、抗病毒和神经保护作用。在本研究中，用葡聚糖硫酸钠（DSS）诱导UC，以研究EBN对结肠炎小鼠的保护作用及其相关机制。从建模期开始每天记录小鼠的体重、粪便形态和粪便潜血结果。实验结束后，测量结肠长度，并收集结肠进行组织病理学检测、炎症因子检测和免疫组织化学检测。解剖小鼠脾脏进行流式细胞术检测。结果表明，在结肠炎小鼠中，EBN改善了结肠炎症状，减轻了结肠损伤，并抑制了促炎细胞因子IL-1β和TNF-α水平的升高。通过降低肠道组织中IL-17A和IL-6的表达、增加TGF-β的表达以及减少各EBN剂量组中Th17细胞的数量，恢复了辅助性T细胞17（Th17）/调节性T（Treg）细胞平衡。这些发现表明，EBN对DSS介导的小鼠结肠炎具有保护作用，主要是通过恢复Th17/Treg细胞平衡来实现的。
