The Effect of Hypericum perforatum (St. John’s Wort) on Experimental Colitis in Rat

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of Hypericum perforatum (HP) on the inflammatory and immune response of colonic mucosa in rat with induced inflammatory bowel disease and that on various enzyme activities in blood and bowel tissue. Male Wistar albino rats were divided into three main groups: control, third day, and seventh day of colitis. Third-day and seventh-day groups were divided into four subgroups. Colitis was induced in all groups except the control group by 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). The colitis group received saline; treatment groups received HP extract (50, 150, and 300 mg/kg/day, respectively). Glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT), and malondialdehyde (MDA) activities in blood were measured. Catalase, myeloperoxidase (MPO), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), glutathione reductase (GR), malondialdehyde, and nitric oxide (NO) activities were measured from tissue samples. Colonic damage was significantly reduced by HP extract. Macroscopic scoring of colonic damage significantly reduced in groups given HP extract compared with in the colitis group (P < 0.001). Blood catalase levels were reduced in the HP (150 mg/kg/day) compared with the colitis group (P < 0.01). Blood GSH levels significantly increased in groups treated with HP compared with control (P < 0.001) on the third and seventh day. Tissue GR levels reduced in the colitis and HP (50 mg/kg/day) groups compared with control (P < 0.05). Tissue MPO activity increased in the colitis and treatment groups compared with control (P < 0.007). GSH-Px levels increased in the colitis group compared with control at day 3 (P = 0.006). HP has a protective effect on TNBS-induced inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), probably due to an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant mechanism.

The Beneficial Effects of Hypiran in Ameliorating Rat Model of Ulcerative Colitis

“…TNBSinduced colitis is another animal form of IBD that induces a chronic phenotype mimicking Crohn's disease [18]. Similar to our results, an interesting previous study reported that daily intra-peritoneal administration of extract of H. perforatum had a protective beneficiary on TNBS-induced colitis, due to an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant mechanism [49]. A former study reported that colitis rats orally received 300 and 600 mg/kg H. perforatum extract and/or intrarectally treated with 10 and 20% gel form of H. perforatum extract for 7 days, showed significant histopathological healing concurrent with a significant reduction in tissue MDA levels [50].…”

Protective effects of St. John’s wort in the hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats

“…In recent years, inflammatory models have shown a protective effect of SJW with antioxidant properties by inhibiting free radicals and lipid peroxidation (34). In addition to this, SJW has been shown to reduce the levels of proinflammatory cytokines and prevent PMN leukocytes from accumulating in the inflamed area (35). In our study, it has also been shown that either directly or indirectly, SJW prevents tissue damage by inhibiting both cytokine activation as a result of free radicals and the activation of apoptotic agents during inflammatory events.…”

APicrorhiza kurroaDerivative, Picroliv, Attenuates the Development of Dextran-Sulfate-Sodium-Induced Colitis in Mice

“…Therefore, blockade of these inflammatory mediators or their upstream regulators such as NF- κ B p65 can offer an alternative therapy for UC [5, 6, 10, 11]. Also, many studies have showed that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are increased in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and overproduction of colonic oxidants contributes to mucosal injury in IBD [12, 13], thus some agents exert protective effects on IBD by antioxidant mechanism [14, 15]. …”