Dietary Propolis Ameliorates Dextran Sulfate Sodium-Induced Colitis and Modulates the Gut Microbiota in Rats Fed a Western Diet

Abstract

Propolis is an important hive product and considered beneficial to health. However, evidence of its potential for improving gut health is still lacking. Here we use rats to examine whether dietary supplementation with propolis could be used as a therapy for ulcerative colitis. Rats were fed with a Western style diet alone (controls) or supplemented with different amounts of Chinese propolis (0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3%) to examine effects on acute colitis induced by 3% dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) in drinking water. Propolis at 0.3%, but not lower levels, significantly improved colitis symptoms compared with the control group, with a less pronounced disease activity index (DAI) (p < 0.001), a significant increase in colon length/weight ratio (p < 0.05) and an improved distal colon tissue structure as assessed by histology. Although short chain fatty acid levels in digesta were not altered by propolis supplementation, 16S rRNA phylogenetic sequencing revealed a significant increase in gut microbial diversity after 21 days of 0.3% propolis supplementation compared with controls including a significant increase in bacteria belonging to the Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria phyla. This is the first study to demonstrate that propolis can attenuate DSS-induced colitis and provides new insight into diet-microbiota interactions during inflammatory bowel disease.

Honey Polyphenols Ameliorate DSS‐Induced Ulcerative Colitis via Modulating Gut Microbiota in Rats

“…Currently, there is no report on the ingestion of honey regulating gut microbiota, but Wang et al. reported that polyphenol‐rich propolis decreased intestinal inflammation and modulated the gut microbiota in a model of DSS‐induced colitis . They demonstrated that a 2 week treatment with propolis from China and Brazil decreased the bacterial genera of Bacteroides in colitis rats.…”

Galangin Protects against Symptoms of Dextran Sodium Sulfate-Induced Acute Colitis by Activating Autophagy and Modulating the Gut Microbiota

“…The normal control and DSS colitis control mice also received the same volume of gum tragacanth. The effect of a treatment on an animal's health was blindly analyzed and the disease activity index (DAI) was chosen for evaluating the colitic severity, which included the loss of body weight, stool consistency, rectal bleeding, and the overall condition of the animals [11].…”

“…Flavonoids are also regarded as the major active constituents of bee propolis, a natural dietary supplement produced by honeybees from the resin of plants which has been widely used to prevent inflammatory diseases [9]. Recent studies from our lab have also suggested that propolis flavonoids have considerable potential as complementary and alternative reagents relative to classical IBD therapeutics [10,11]. Nevertheless, propolis contains numerous flavonoids, and there is scant information regarding the active constituents in relation to its gastrointestinal effects.…”

Serine Deficiency Exacerbates Inflammation and Oxidative Stress via Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in D-Galactose-Induced Aging Mice

“…Microbiota Profiling. DNA was extracted from fecal samples using the QIAamp DNA Stool Mini Kit (Qiagen) as previously described [14]. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequences (V3-V4 region) were amplified, and then, PCR were performed in a total volume of 50 mL consisting of 12.5 mL of Phusion High-Fidelity PCR Master Mix (New England BioLabs Inc., Beverly, MA, United States), 1 mL of each primer, 50 ng of template DNA, and PCR-grade water.…”