Anti‐Inflammatory effect and bone protection of kefir peptides in a rat model of adjuvant‐induced rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting 1% of people in the world. The pathological characteristics include synovial inflammation, bone erosion, and joint structure damage. Furthermore, the inflammatory responses of rheumatoid arthritis attract immune cells to aggregate in joints and release cytokines to cause bone erosion. Kefir is a kind of dairy product that contains a variety of Lactobacillus and yeast. Our previous studies have shown that kefir peptides derived from kefir fermented product can reduce lung inflammation by inhibiting the NF‐κB pathway, but the anti‐inflammatory effect of kefir peptides on RA is still unknown. To investigate the anti‐inflammatory effect of kefir peptides on RA, kefir peptides were utilized to treat the rat model of adjuvant‐induced arthritis. The animals were divided into normal, arthritis‐induced, kefir‐treating and drug control groups. Each group was treated with water, kefir peptides, and Tofacitinib, respectively, for 14 days and the severity of arthritis was tracked by ultrasound scanning. The kefir‐treating group has lower arthritis score than the arthritis‐induced group, and the ultrasonography showed decreased severity of the bone erosion of the ankle joint after kefir peptides treatment. The histological severity score of arthritis in hind paws also showed the kefir‐treating group has lower than the arthritis‐induced group. These results indicate that kefir peptides may have an anti‐inflammatory effect and reduce the bone erosion of ankle joint. This study confirmed that kefir peptides is a potentially promising substance for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. In the future, the serum levels of TNF‐α, IL‐6, RANKL, and NF‐κB will be determined to verify the mechanisms of the anti‐inflammatory effect of kefir peptides.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.