Sodium butyrate and calcium propionate alleviate dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced acute ulcerative colitis and modulate body weight in one-year-old female and male BALB/c mice

Background and Aims: Beside age-related physiological low secretion of body metabolism-regulating hormones and changes in energy expenditure, low level of enteric beneficial microbiome metabolites, as consequences of the intestinal dysbiosis, may contribute to body and abdominal fat accumulation a feature of middle and advance adult age, implicating for obesity and diabetes. Although DSS-induced murine model of colitis is frequently used to investigate the health benefits of probiotic bacteria and SCFA, there has been little research attempting to verify these effects, in particular calcium propionate, in middle (11 – 13 month) and Aged (19 – 21 month) mice that are at higher risk, because of their immune system. However, human metabolic disorders and weakens of immune systems appear/develop usually in middle age. Hence, in the frame of this primarily pilot experiment, we investigated the effects of sodium butyrate and calcium propionate in one-year- old male and female mice. Materials and Methods: Forty-five one-year- old conventional BALB/c mice (33 males and 12 females) were randomly selected and divided into 3 three groups (n = 15). Group 1 received DSS (5% w/v), Group 2 received DSS (5% w/v) plus sodium butyrate (3.85% w/v) and group 3 received DSS (5% w/v) plus calcium propionate (3.85% w/v) for 7 days in their drinking water ad libitum. Results: Administration of sodium butyrate and, particularly, calcium propionate ameliorated significantly pathophysiological and exacerbated clinical signs of DSS-induced colitis/inflammation, including body weight, visible rectal bleeding, faeces consistency, positive faecal occult blood tests and the reduction of colon lengths, whilst alleviating markedly histological abnormalities. At the molecular level, PGlyRP3, IFN-γ and calprotection seem to be involved. Discussion: We used, for the first time, middle-aged mice and calcium propionate, instate of sodium propionate and showed here that sodium butyrate and particularly calcium propionate alleviate DSS- induced acute colitis in middle-aged. In vitro cell cultures, ex vivo and further in vivo animal research models (Pglyrp3^-/- and FFAR3^-/-) are ongoing and planned to confirm these findings and to explore the molecular mechanisms and putative genes involved, using Affymetrix Microarrays (GeneChip Genome Array), TaqMan qRT-PCR, colonoscopy as well as profiling of complex microbial populations and inflammation/metabolic markers.