Abstract
In this study, we evaluated the effects of dietary plant sterols and stanols as their fatty acid esters on the development of experimental colitis. The effects were studied both in high- and low-fat diet conditions in two models, one acute and another chronic model of experimental colitis that resembles gene expression in human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In the first experiments in the high fat diet (HFD), we did not observe a beneficial effect of the addition of plant sterols and stanols on the development of acute dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) colitis. In the chronic CD4CD45RB T cell transfer colitis model, we mainly observed an effect of the presence of high fat on the development of colitis. In this HFD condition, the presence of plant sterol or stanol did not result in any additional effect. In the second experiments with low fat, we could clearly observe a beneficial effect of the addition of plant sterols on colitis parameters in the T cell transfer model, but not in the DSS model. This positive effect was related to the gender of the mice and on Treg presence in the colon. This suggests that especially dietary plant sterol esters may improve intestinal inflammation in a T cell dependent manner.
Highlights
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory condition characterized by recurrent or continuous uncontrolled inflammation of the colon and/or ileum with repetitive relapses of which the etiology is not completely understood
We tested this in the chronic T-cell driven T-cell transfer model in which RAG-1 ́/ ́ mice lacking natural mature B and T-cells are transplanted with CD4+CD45RBhi cells, a model resembling Crohn’s disease, as well as in the acute dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) colitis model of epithelial injury
Our results show that adding plant sterol or stanol esters to the high-fat diets did not seem to improve disease severity in the dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis model
Summary
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory condition characterized by recurrent or continuous uncontrolled inflammation of the colon and/or ileum with repetitive relapses of which the etiology is not completely understood. We concluded that there is inconsistent evidence for an anti-inflammatory effect of plant sterol and stanol esters in relation to cardio vascular disease (CVD) risk management, whereas effects on immune function in specific disease conditions are likely [5] In this respect, we have shown that plant sterols and stanols induce a Th1 shift in cultured human peripheral mononuclear blood cells (PBMCs) from asthma patients [6]. We evaluated the effects both in high- and low-fat dietary conditions in two different models of experimental colitis that were shown to best resemble gene expression in human IBD [11] We tested this in the chronic T-cell driven T-cell transfer model in which RAG-1 ́/ ́ mice lacking natural mature B and T-cells are transplanted with CD4+CD45RBhi cells, a model resembling Crohn’s disease, as well as in the acute dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) colitis model of epithelial injury
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