Mucosal healing progression after acute colitis in mice

Mucosal healing has become a therapeutic goal to achieve stable remission in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases. To achieve this objective, overlapping actions of complex cellular processes, such as migration, proliferation, and differentiation, are required. These events are longitudinally and tightly controlled by numerous factors including a wide range of distinct regulatory proteins. However, the sequence of events associated with colon mucosal repair after colitis and the evolution of the luminal content characteristics during this process have been little studied.

To document the evolution of colon mucosal characteristics during mucosal healing using a mouse model with chemically-induced colitis.

C57BL/6 male mice were given 3.5% dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) in drinking water for 5 d. They were euthanized 2 (day 7), 5 (day 10), 8 (day 13), and 23 (day 28) d after DSS removal. The colonic luminal environment and epithelial repair processes during the inflammatory flare and colitis resolution were analyzed with reference to a non-DSS treated control group, euthanized at day 0. Epithelial repair events were assessed histo-morphologically in combination with functional permeability tests, expression of key inflammatory and repairing factors, and evaluation of colon mucosa-adherent microbiota composition by 16S rRNA sequencing.

The maximal intensity of colitis was concomitant with maximal alterations of intestinal barrier function and histological damage associated with goblet cell depletion in colon mucosa. It was recorded 2 d after termination of the DSS-treatment, followed by a progressive return to values similar to those of control mice. Although signs of colitis were severe (inflammatory cell infiltrate, crypt disarray, increased permeability) and associated with colonic luminal alterations (hyperosmolarity, dysbiosis, decrease in short-chain fatty acid content), epithelial healing processes were launched early during the inflammatory flare with increased gene expression of certain key epithelial repair modulators, including transforming growth factor-β, interleukin (Il)-15, Il-22, Il-33, and serum amyloid A. Whereas signs of inflammation progressively diminished, luminal colonic environment alterations and microscopic abnormalities of colon mucosa persisted long after colitis induction.

This study shows that colon repair can be initiated in the context of inflamed mucosa associated with alterations of the luminal environment and highlights the longitudinal involvement of key modulators.