Avaliação da atividade anti-inflamatória de condroitim sulfato e glucosamina em modelo experimental de colite ulcerativa em ratos

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease comprising a broad spectrum of diseases those have in common chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Ulcerative colitis affects only the colon and rectum, has still poorly understood etiology and this could may be related to environmental factors, genetic and immune response. Treatment is based on drugs as aminosalicylates, immunosuppressants and glucocorticoids, but its side effects hinder patient compliance with treatment for long periods. Chondroitin sulphate (CS) and glucosamine (GlcN) are currently indicated for treatment of inflammatory diseases such as osteoarthritis, mainly because of the anti-inflammatory effect by decreasing the activity of transcription factor NF-kB and decreasing the expression of metalloproteases (MMP), TNF-α, iNOS and other inflammatory mediators. The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of the combination of CS and GlcN in experimental ulcerative colitis model induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in rats. To do so we evaluated the disease activity index (DAI), haematological and biochemical parameters, morphological changes and activity of MMP-2 and -9, NO and glycosaminoglycans concentration in the large intestine. Animals were divided into four groups: (1) control, (2) control + CS / GlcN, (3) DSS-induced colitis, (4) DSS + CS / GlcN. We observed that treatment with CS/GlcN improved the severity of acute colitis in rats verified by histological score reduction and improvement in hematological parameters. CS/GlcN also reduced goblet cells destruction observed by alcian blue, as well as nitric oxide production, the activity of myeloperoxidase and metalloproteases, especially MMP-9. Moreover, we observed a reduction in the concentration of total GAG + DSS group CS / GlcN when compared to DSS. Therefore, administration of CS/GlcN showed improvements in some of the parameters evaluated mainly on the activity of MMP-9, showing a potential future use of these compounds for the treatment of this pathology.