Abstract
Factors implicated in the pathophysiology of intestinal inflammation include defects in intestinal epithelial barrier function, abnormal immune responses, and activities of the gut microbiota. Current agents used to treat human Inflammatory Bowels Disease (IBD), chronic inflammation of digestive tract, have serious side effects. In addition, most of these treatments target the damaging factors while not providing pro-healing factors that repair the damaged intestine. Here we provide a method to isolate, purify and characterize a specific population from ginger (ginger-derived nanoparticles: GDNPs 2) with anti-inflammatory activities. GDNPs 2 as a drug vehicle are a novel natural, nontoxic delivery system, which target the inflamed intestinal mucosa, blocks damaging factors while promoting pro-healing factors and could easily be developed for large-scale production aimed at the treatment of IBD.