Therapeutic effect of sodium alginate in experimental chronic ulcerative colitis

The aim of this study was to test the therapeutic efficacy of sodium alginate in a rat model of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced inflammatory bowel disease. This experiment was carried out using 77 Sprague-Dawley rats which were divided into six groups; normal, control, prophylactic, therapeutic and two experimental groups. Rats were sacrificed 1, 2, 3 and 6 weeks after colitis induction. Severity of colitis was graded macroscopically and assessed using serum and colonic mucosal cytokines and eicosanoids. Intrarectal TNBS (30 mg) produced a significant chronic ulcerative colitis. The lesions were most severe on day seven after TNBS instillation, and then declined, but lesions were still observed after six weeks. TNBS administration also significantly enhanced the serum and colonic mucosal cytokines (TNF-alpha and IL-6) and eicosanoids (LTB4 and PGE2) levels, which paralleled with the severity of colitis. Low viscosity sodium alginate (LVA) solution as therapeutic agent was administered orally as drinking water at concentration of 0.5% (W/V) for six weeks. Results showed that pre-treatment (in prophylactic group) and treatment with LVA were significantly able to reduce colonic damage score, serum level and colonic mucosal production of TNF-alpha, IL-6, LTB4 and PGE2 in pre-treated and treated animals compared with non-treated controls. LVA therapy is able to suppress chronic ulcerative colitis in experimental model.