Beneficial Effect of DA-9601, an Extract of Artemisiae Herba, on Animals Models of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of DA-9601, an extract of Artemisiae Herba, which is known to possess mucoprotective action either by free radical scavenging effect or increase of mucus secretion, against animal models of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) induced by trinirobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) or other noxious agents. Experimental colitis was induced by intracolonic administration of TNBS in 50% ethanol, or 1 ml of 7% acetic acid solution (AA), by subcutaneous injection of indomethacin (INDO) in rats, or by supplementing drinking water with 5% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in albino mice. DA-9601 was treated orally for 4 to 7 days. Animals were euthanized 1 day after the last treatment for morphological and biochemical analysises. All the noxious agents including TNBS, AA, INDO and DSS elicited severe colitis. The animals treated with DA-9601 showed a consistent, dose-related reduction in the severity of colitis, grossly and histologically. The reduction was significant (p<0.05) after administration of DA-9601 at dose range of 10 mg/kg or above. In TNBS-induced colitis, the rats receiving DA-9601 showed significantly decreased mucosal myeloperoxidase (MPO) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBA-RS), when compared to control and mesalazine groups. Mucosal proinflammatory cytokine levels were also decreased after DA-9601 treatment. In conclusion, DA-9601 ameliorated macroscopic and histologic scores in experimental colitis either through decreasing oxidative stress or by attenuating cytokines involved in inflammation. DA-9601 could be a promising drug for the therapy of IBD.