acanthoic-acid and Diarrhea

Acanthoic acid (AA) is a pimaradiene diterpene isolated from Acanthopanax koreanum. We examined the effect of AA in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis. AA (100 mg/kg or 300 mg/kg) was administered p.o. daily for 7 days. AA significantly inhibited Disease Activity Index, histological score, and myeloperoxidase activity. Furthermore, AA markedly suppressed the protein expression of TNF-alpha, COX-2, NF-kappaB and chymase as well as the mRNA expression of TNF-alpha and COX-2. These results suggest that AA exerts beneficial effects in experimental colitis, and therefore we propose that this compound may have therapeutic implications for ulcerative colitis.

Topics: Animals; Blotting, Western; Body Weight; Chymases; Colitis, Ulcerative; Colon; Cyclooxygenase 2; Diarrhea; Diterpenes; Eleutherococcus; Female; Hemorrhage; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; NF-kappa B; Peroxidase; Plant Roots; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Messenger; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha