P094 Polyphenolic extract from Chilean berry attenuates intestinal damage and improves clinical indicators in an animal model of Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease (CD) is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), whose pathogenesis and aetiology remains unclear. Trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis is a commonly utilised animal model because it shares features of human CD. Polyphenols have been studied widely by their anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and immunomodulatory properties. Chilean berry Aristotelia chilensis (ACh) belongs to the ‘super fruit’ family due to its high content of phenolic antioxidants. Our objective was to investigate the clinical and histopathological impact of ACh extract on TNBS-induced colitis. Male Balb/c mice of 8 months old were used for CD induction, administrating via intracolonic 125 mg/kg of TNBS with 50% ethanol (EtOH). Control group received only 50% ethanol. Ach extract was administered by orogastric tube (500 mg/kg/day) for 1 week prior to the induction of disease (Preventive group) and 4 days after TNBS administration (Treatment group). TNBS treated mice exhibited significantly body weight loss compared with the Control group (EtOH). The administration of ACh extract significantly improved the body weight in Preventive and Treatment groups (Figure 1). For the histopathological analysis, we used the whole colon in the same slide (Figure 2). Colonic tissue of the different groups showed colon shortening as a marker of tissue inflammation (Figure 3). Microscopically, we observed transmural inflammation with cell infiltration, ulcerations and loss of goblet cells in the TNBS group. ACh extract largely restored the normal histological structure of the colonic mucosa and submucosa (Figure 4). Figure 1. Effect of ACh extract on body weight. Figure 2. Rolled colon for the microscopic evaluation of the whole organ. H&E, 4×. Figure 3. Ach extract prevents shortening of large intestine. Figure 4. Microscopic evaluation of colonic tissue. This animal model shows the progress of a transmural inflammation with tissue damage that resembles the development of human CD. The administration of polyphenolic ACh extract may exert protective effects and therapeutic against TNBS-induced colitis.