Antimicrobial Resistance Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Science, Mashhad, Iran; Department of Microbiology and Virology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Biotechnology Research Center, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.
Int Immunopharmacol. 2022 Jul;108:108810. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2022.108810. Epub 2022 May 13.
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is considered one of the most prevalent inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). However, due to the lack of satisfying efficacy of conventional therapies and their side effects, there is still a need for more efficient therapeutic agents. Melittin is a small peptide derived from bee venom, which shows potent anti-inflammatory activity. The present investigation aimed to assess the anti-inflammatory effect of melittin peptide alone and in co-therapy with sulfasalazine as a standard therapy on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis models.
We used DSS to induce UC in C57BL/6 male mice. We investigated the effect of melittin peptide alone and in combination with sulfasalazine on improving the clinical symptoms among DSS-induced colitis models. Finally, we employed histological investigation to show the therapeutic effect of melittin on attenuating the pathological damage of colon tissue caused due to DSS-induced inflammation in colitis models.
Our findings demonstrated that melittin peptide alone and in combination with sulfasalazine dramatically cured the clinical UC. Moreover, we observed that this peptide almost eliminated the histological damage of colon tissue in colitis, while significantly reducing the inflammation in colon tissue. Meanwhile, our results demonstrated that this peptide had an antioxidant effect through the disruption of the oxidant/antioxidant balance.
All these findings suggest that melittin peptide has an anti-inflammatory effect and can probably be considered a novel therapeutic agent for UC. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that this peptide can enhance the therapeutic effects of conventional therapy while attenuating the adverse effects of conventional agents.
溃疡性结肠炎（UC）被认为是最常见的炎症性肠病（IBD）之一。然而，由于常规疗法疗效不尽如人意且存在副作用，仍需要更有效的治疗药物。蜂毒素是一种源自蜂毒的小肽，具有强大的抗炎活性。本研究旨在评估蜂毒素肽单独使用以及与柳氮磺胺吡啶（一种标准疗法）联合治疗对葡聚糖硫酸钠（DSS）诱导的结肠炎模型的抗炎作用。
我们使用 DSS 诱导 C57BL/6 雄性小鼠发生 UC。我们研究了蜂毒素肽单独使用和与柳氮磺胺吡啶联合使用对改善 DSS 诱导的结肠炎模型中临床症状的影响。最后，我们采用组织学研究来展示蜂毒素减轻 DSS 诱导的结肠炎模型中结肠组织病理损伤的治疗效果。
我们的研究结果表明，蜂毒素肽单独使用和与柳氮磺胺吡啶联合使用可显著治愈临床 UC。此外，我们观察到该肽几乎消除了结肠炎中结肠组织的组织学损伤，同时显著减少了结肠组织中的炎症。同时，我们的结果表明该肽具有抗氧化作用，通过破坏氧化应激/抗氧化平衡来实现。
所有这些发现表明蜂毒素肽具有抗炎作用，可能被认为是 UC 的一种新型治疗药物。此外，我们的结果表明，该肽可以增强常规疗法的治疗效果，同时减轻常规药物的不良反应。
