¹Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Marmara University, Istanbul 34854, Türkiye
²Stem Cell and Gene Therapies Research and Applied Center, Medical Faculty, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli 41380, Türkiye DOI : 10.29228/jrp.447 Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex disease with an incompletely understood multifactorial etiopathogenesis. The importance of intestinal microbiota in IBD and the role of probiotics in the treatment are being extensively investigated. This study evaluated the therapeutic effects of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12, Lactobacillus reuteri, Saccharomyces boulardii and Bacillus clausii in trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis animal model. Rats were randomly grouped into 7: control, colitis, colitis+BB-12, colitis+L. reuteri, colitis+S. boulardii, colitis+B. clausii and colitis+methylprednisolone (positive control) treatment groups. Colitis was induced by the administration of intracolonically 80 mg/kg TNBS. Treatments continued for 7 days. Body weight, stool consistency, rectal bleeding, and disease activity index (DAI) scores were evaluated and recorded daily. Macroscopic and microscopic colonic damage were evaluated and scored in the last day of experiment. Levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) and activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO) in the colonic tissues were detected by ELISA. Our results showed that treatments with BB-12, L. reuteri, S. boulardii and B. clausii significantly improved on clinical symptoms and decreased macroscopic and microscopic colonic damage on experimental colitis in rats. In addition, L. reuteri and S. boulardii significantly increased GSH levels and decreased MDA levels and MPO activity. When we evaluate our findings, we think that supplements of these specific probiotics may have beneficial effects in the treatment of IBD. Keywords : Probiotics; inflammatory bowel disease; experimental colitis; trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid; disease activity index