探討雷公藤紅素與扁蒴藤素對葡聚糖硫酸鈉誘導小鼠結腸炎的影響

發炎性腸道疾病是一種慢性發炎疾病，同時亦是一種自體免疫疾病。根據健保署統計資料顯示，近年來臺灣在發炎性腸道疾病的發生率及盛行率都有顯著增加的趨勢，值得重視。臨床上發炎性腸道疾病患者須接受長期追蹤治療，目的是為了降低發炎反應、改善生活品質及避免癌症的發生。然而目前臨床治療大多給予免疫抑制劑如類固醇、生物製劑等藥物，長期使用造成副作用多且復發率高，對於患者的生活及醫療支出都有著極大的影響。文獻回顧顯示三萜類化合物雷公藤紅素與扁蒴藤素能有效緩解經由葡聚糖硫酸鈉所誘導的小鼠結腸炎，但是也有其他文獻指出高劑量的雷公藤紅素會造成小鼠生殖系統的受損。因此本研究將探討低劑量的雷公藤紅素與扁蒴藤素及其組合藥物對於小鼠結腸炎的療效。研究結果顯示低劑量的雷公藤紅素與扁蒴藤素的組合對於緩解葡聚糖硫酸鈉所誘導的小鼠急性及慢性結腸炎之效果最佳，包含減緩體重下降、降低疾病活動指標、降低組織病理學分數、降低發炎性細胞激素表現量與回復緊密連接蛋白表現量等功效。

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disease. According to statistics from the National Health Insurance Administration, the incidence and prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease in Taiwan have shown a significant increasing trend in recent years, which deserves attention. Clinically, patients with IBD require long-term follow-up treatment to reduce inflammation, improve quality of life, and prevent cancer. However, most current clinical treatments use immunosuppressants such as steroids and biological agents.Long-term use causes many side effects and a high recurrence rate, which has a significant impact on patients' lives and medical expenses. Studies showed that the triterpenoid compounds celastrol and pristimerin effectively alleviated dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in mice. However, other studies have also reported that high doses of celastrol can cause reproductive damage in mice. Therefore, this study investigated the efficacy of low-dose celastrol and pristimerin and their combination in treating colitis in mice. The results showed that a low-dose combination of celastrol and pristimerin was most effective in alleviating acute and chronic colitis in mice induced by dextran sulfate sodium, including slowing weight loss, reducing disease activity index, lowering histopathology scores, reducing the expression of inflammatory cytokines, and restoring the expression of tight junction proteins.