Objective
This study was performed to investigate the potential effects of Weissella confusa F213 (WCF213) on chemically-induced colitis rats. Twelve male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: T1 (saline sterile), T2 (2.5% dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)- for 7 days), and T3 (WCF213 for 14 days, continued with 2.5% DSS for 7 days). The disease activity index (DAI) was monitored. After sacrificing the rats, the colon was collected for length measurement, local TNF-α level, HE staining for histology, and ZO-1 expression by using immunohistochemistry.
Results
WCF213 administration prevented weight loss and haematochezia, maintained average colon length and alleviated the clinical symptom of colitis, such as diarrhoea, albeit statistically non-significant (p < 0.05) compared with the T2 group. The histopathology of WCF213-treated colitis rats showed better architecture and less inflammatory cell infiltration into colon tissue. WCF213 significantly maintained the expression of ZO-1 in the mucosa (p < 0.001) and markedly reduced mucosal TNF-α concentration (p < 0.001) compared with the DSS group. Hence, these findings suggested that WCF213 attenuated clinical symptoms and inflammation and maintained mucosal integrity in DSS-induced colitis in vivo.