Effects of probiotics and OMEGA-3 fatty acids on inflammatory response in experimental colitis model

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a systemic disease, with unknown etiology, believed to result from the interaction between genetic and environmental factors and intestinal immune factors. Recently there is a significant increase in prevalence of IBD but although many experimental studies have been performed, no agent could be found providing a complete cure in clinical practice. Treatment of IBD is mostly medical; there isn't any evidence based protocol for medical nutrition therapy. In this study we aimed to determine the effects of probiotics and omega 3 fatty acids on inflammatory response, total oxidant, total antioxidant parameters and intestinal epithelium in chronic colitis induced rats. 50 BALB/c mice were used for this study. Mice were randomly separated in to 5 groups as: Healthy control (Group I), DNBS control (Group II), DNBS+probiotic (Group III), DNBS+omega-3 group (Group IV), DNBS+probiotic+omega-3 (Group V). A mixture of 2-6 mg (200 mg/kg) dinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (DNBS) + %30 ethanol were given rectally to mice under anesthesia to induce experimental colitis except for healthy control group. To induce chronic colitis, dose of the DNBS mixture was reduced to half (100 mg/kg) and all phases were repeated on 21st day. At the end of 24th day mice were sacrificed and colonic tissue was removed. Tissue IL-6, IL-10, IL-17A, IFN-γ, TNF-α, total oxidant and total antioxidant levels were measured. Histological evaluation of colonic mucosa was performed. There wasn't any statistically significant difference between groups in terms of weight changes (p>0.05). Highest IFN- γ level was measured in DNBS control group. Mean IFN-γ value of DNBS control group was significantly higher than mean IFN- γ values of DNBS+probiotic and DNBS+probiotic+omega-3 groups (p<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between groups in terms of IL-6 and IL-10 levels (p>0.05) . IL-17 and TNF- α levels were significantly highest in DNBS control group (p<0.05). It was seen that DNBS+probiotic group had the lowest levels of both TAS and TOS values but there was no statistically significant difference between groups (p>0.05). When we compared groups in terms of microscopic scoring, we found that DNBS control group had the highest score and this difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). Closest microscopic image to the healthy control group was in DNBS+probiotic+omega-3 group which was taking combined nutritional support. As a result, we observed that using probiotics and omega-3 fatty acids either alone or in combination has protective effects on colon injury and inflammation. However, more studies are needed to create a routinely used protocol.