Intestinal Alkaline Phosphatase Combined with Voluntary Physical Activity Alleviates Experimental Colitis in Obese Mice. Involvement of Oxidative Stress, Myokines, Adipokines and Proinflammatory Biomarkers

Intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) is an essential mucosal defense factor involved in the process of maintenance of gut homeostasis. We determined the effect of moderate exercise (voluntary wheel running) with or without treatment with IAP on the course of experimental murine 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) colitis by assessing disease activity index (DAI), colonic blood flow (CBF), plasma myokine irisin levels and the colonic and adipose tissue expression of proinflammatory cytokines, markers of oxidative stress (SOD2, GPx) and adipokines in mice fed a standard diet (SD) or high-fat diet (HFD). Macroscopic and microscopic colitis in sedentary SD mice was accompanied by a significant decrease in CBF, and a significant increase in the colonic expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), IL-6, IL-1β and leptin mRNAs and decrease in the mRNA expression of adiponectin. These effects were aggravated in sedentary HFD mice but reduced in exercising animals, potentiated by concomitant treatment with IAP, especially in obese mice. Exercising HFD mice demonstrated a substantial increase in the mRNA for adiponectin and a decrease in mRNA leptin expression in intestinal mucosa and mesenteric fat as compared to sedentary animals. The expression of SOD2 and GPx mRNAs was significantly decreased in adipose tissue in HFD mice, but these effects were reversed in exercising mice with IAP administration. Our study shows for the first time that the combination of voluntary exercise and oral IAP treatment synergistically favored healing of intestinal inflammation, strengthened the antioxidant defense and ameliorated the course of experimental colitis; thus, IAP may represent a novel adjuvant therapy to alleviate inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in humans.

Leukocyte Apheresis Using a Fiber Filter Suppresses Colonic Injury Through Calcitonin Gene–Related Peptide Induction

Background The aim of this study was to address whether the therapeutic effect of leukocytapheresis (LCAP) depends on calcitonin gene– related peptide (CGRP) induction. Methods An HLA-B27 transgenic rat model was treated with an LCAP column. The effects of LCAP on clinical, endoscopic, and histologic disease activity, the colony-forming ability of colony-forming unit (CFU)–granulocyte macrophages (GMs), colonic blood flow, and tissue expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)–α and CGRP were examined. Changes in the effects of LCAP after pretreatment with the CGRP antagonist CGRP8–37 were also observed. A dextran sulfate sodium–induced colitis rat model included treatment with CGRP, and the effect was assessed based on clinical, endoscopic, and histologic disease activity, colonic blood flow, the colony-forming ability of CFU-GMs, and tissue expression of inflammatory cytokines and CGRP receptor families. Results LCAP improved disease activity, enhanced colonic blood flow, and induced the bone marrow colony-forming ability of CFU-GMs with an increase in CGRP mRNA levels. These effects were abolished by pretreatment with CGRP8–37. The administration of CGRP suppressed colitis, promoting colonic blood flow, inducing bone marrow–derived cells, downregulating inflammatory cytokines, and upregulating receptor activity–modifying protein–1. The mRNA and protein levels of inflammatory cytokines in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated mononuclear cells were also decreased after CGRP treatment. Conclusions The therapeutic effects of LCAP depend on CGRP induction. CGRP can effectively suppress colitis through the downregulation of inflammatory events and upregulation of protective events.

Effect of Forced Physical Activity on the Severity of Experimental Colitis in Normal Weight and Obese Mice. Involvement of Oxidative Stress and Proinflammatory Biomarkers

Inflammatory bowel diseases are a heterogeneous group of disorders represented by two major phenotypic forms, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Cross talk between adipokines and myokines, as well as changes in intestinal microcirculation, was proposed in pathogenesis of these disorders. C57BL/6 male mice were fed ad libitum for 12 weeks a standard (SD) or high-fat diet (HFD). After the adaptation period, two groups of animals fed SD or HFD were subjected to 6 weeks of the forced treadmill exercise and the experimental colitis was induced in both groups of sedentary and exercising mice fed SD and HFD by intra-colonic administration of 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid. The disease activity index (DAI), colonic blood flow (CBF), the weight of animals, caloric intake, the mesenteric fad pad, the colonic oxidative stress markers malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and intestinal expression and protein content of proinflammatory markers were evaluated. Macroscopic and microscopic colitis in sedentary SD mice was accompanied by a significant fall in CBF and exacerbated in those fed a HFD. The contents of MDA, GSH, and SOD activity were significantly increased in both SD and HFD fed mice with treadmill exercise as compared with sedentary mice. In sedentary HFD mice a significant increase in the intestinal oxidative stress parameters and mucosal expression of IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-17, IFNγ, IL-6, and IL-10 protein were observed and these effects were aggravated in mice subjected to forced treadmill exercise. The mucosal expression of mRNA for TNF-α, IL-1β, iNOS, COX-2, SOD-1, SOD-2, GPx mRNAs, and the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α protein expression were upregulated in colonic mucosa of treadmill exercising HFD mice with colitis compared with those without exercise. We conclude that forced treadmill running exacerbates the severity of colonic damage in obese mice due to a fall in colonic microcirculation, an increase in oxidative stress, and the rise in expression and activity of proinflammatory biomarkers.

Use of Ghrelin as a Treatment for Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Mechanistic Considerations

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD)—and in particular Crohn's disease—are immune-mediated processes that result in denuded intestinal mucosa and can produce decreased appetite, weight loss, and systemic inflammation. Current treatments include anti-inflammatory medications, immunomodulators, and feeding interventions. Ghrelin is an endogenous orexigenic hormone that directly stimulates growth hormone release, increases gut motility, and has cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory properties. Although ghrelin levels are elevated in active IBD, administration of ghrelin in most (but not all) animal models of colitis has produced improvements in disease activity and systemic inflammation. The mechanism for these effects is not known but may relate to decreased inflammation, increased motility, increased appetite, and increased colonic blood flow. Human trials have not been performed, however, and more research is clearly needed.

Colonic blood flow responses in experimental colitis: time course and underlying mechanisms

Human inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are associated with significant alterations in intestinal blood flow, the direction and magnitude of which change with disease progression. The objectives of this study were to determine the time course of changes in colonic blood perfusion that occur during the development of dextran-sodium-sulfate (DSS)-induced colonic inflammation and to address the mechanisms that may underlie these changes in blood flow. Intravital microscopy was used to quantify blood flow (from measurements of vessel diameter and red blood cell velocity) in different-sized submucosal arterioles of control and inflamed colons in wild-type (WT) mice. A significant (18–30%) reduction in blood flow was noted in the smallest arterioles (<40 μm diameter) on days 4–6 of DSS colitis. The arteriolar responses to bradykinin in control and DSS-treated WT mice revealed an impaired endothelium-dependent, but not endothelium-independent, vasodilation in the inflamed colon. However, this impaired vasodilatory response to bradykinin after DSS treatment was not evident in mutant mice that overexpress Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase. Rescue of the bradykinin-induced vasodilation during DSS colitis was also observed in mice that are genetically deficient in the NAD(P)H oxidase subunit gp91phox. These findings indicate that the decline in blood flow during experimental colitis may result from a diminished capacity of colonic arterioles to respond to endogenous endothelium-dependent vasodilators like bradykinin and that NAD(P)H oxidase-derived superoxide plays a major role in the induction of the inflammation-induced endothelium-dependent arteriolar dysfunction.