Background
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a recurrent bowel disease. It severely affects the life quality of patients. Several medications are used to treat patients with active UC. However, these are associated with side effects that add to the disease complications.
Aim of the work
To evaluate the therapeutic effect of pentoxifylline, nano-curcumin and mesenchymal stem cells on experimentally induced ulcerative colitis in rats.
Material and Methods
Sixty five adult male rats were divided into six groups. Group I: control group. Group II (UC): rats received once intra-rectal injection of two ml of 4% acetic acid. Group ΙIΙ: rats received daily oral dose of pentoxifylline starting three days after induction of colitis for two weeks. Group ΙV: rats received daily oral dose of nano-curcumin starting three days after induction of colitis for two weeks. Group V: rats received once injection of BMSCs via tail vein after three days from induction of colitis. Group VI: rats received once intra-rectal injection of two ml of 4% acetic acid and were left without treatment for two weeks. Colonic samples were processed and examined using histological and immunohistochemical techniques.
Results
Group ΙIΙ showed improvement in histopathological picture of colitis. Group IV showed a near normal histological picture except few areas of surface simple columnar cells showed discontinuity and distorted few crypts. Group V showed a histological picture nearly similar to control group. Group VI showed a picture nearly similar to UC group. There was a significant increase in alcian blue +ve reaction and a significant decrease in collagen fibers deposition and in TNF-α expression (P˂ 0.05) in groups III, IV and V compared with group II while these parameters were insignificant in recovery group.
Conclusion:
BMSCs and nano curcumin are more effective than pentoxifylline in treatment of UC in rats. Nano curcumin is less in cost and more save.