An investigation upon the effectiveness of LVA-7220 as an immunomodulator on chronic ulcerative colities in rats

In recent years, the role of LVA-7220 as an effective immunomodulating agent has been widely studied. The aim of the present study was to investigate its effectiveness on chronic forms of experimentally induced ulcerative colitis (UC) in rats. LVA7220 is a polysaccharide that is extracted from brown algae and is composed of D-mannuronic and L-guluronic acids residues. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by increase in inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-α. In addition, there is an increase in levels of inflammatory mediators such as PGE2, and LTB4. Experimental chronic forms of IBD were induced by TNBS methods. For induction, TNBS dissolved in 50% (Vol/Vol) ethanol (120mg/ml) was introduced into rectal lumen of three randomly selected groups of rats (n=5 in each group) allocated into patient (P; did not receive any treatment), prevention (M; supplied with 0.5 % LVA in drinking water 24 h before) and treatment (T, treated with 0.5 % LVA in drinking water after induction). Three control groups (n=5) allocated as 1 and 6 week LVA-treated and non-treated normal. Rats were scarified 1, 2, 3 and 6 weeks after IBD induction. The sera was collected and investigated for assessment of TNF-α, IL-6, PGE2, and LTB4, respectively using ELISA method. Furthermore, clinical signs in all groups were compared using Gerald method. The clinical signs of the disease were significantly different between P and M groups. However, there was no significant difference between P and T-groups in chronic forms. There were significant difference in the pathological results (P and T, M) as well as the serum cytokines levels of TNF-α, LTB4, and IL-6 between P and both T and M groups at 1, 2, 3, and 6 weeks after induction of IBD with TNBS. In conclusion, the findings of the present study demonstrated that LVA might have broad inhibitory property on the cytokine production and pro-inflammatory mediators such as IL-6 and TNF-α. Since these factors have important contributing role in the IBD process, it is expected that this agent may prove a contributing role in the treatment of this disease.