Pomegranate Extract Improves Colitis in IL-10 Knockout Mice Fed a High Fat High Sucrose Diet

Scope The study tests the hypothesis that dietary pomegranate extract (PomX) supplementation attenuates colitis in a Western diet feed IL-10 deficient (IL-10-/-) murine model. Methods and Results Four-week-old male IL-10-/- mice are randomly assigned to a high fat high sucrose (HFHS) diet or a HFHS diet supplement with 0.25% PomX for 8 weeks. PomX supplementation lead to significantly lower histological score for colitis (2.6 +/- 0.5 vs 3.9 +/- 1.0), lower spleen weight (0.11 +/- 0.01 vs 0.15 +/- 0.02), and lower circulating Interleukin 6(IL-6) levels (15.8 +/- 2.2 vs 29.5 +/- 5.5) compared with HFHS fed controls. RNAseq analysis of colonic tissues showed 483 downregulated and 263 upregulated genes with PomX supplementation, which are mainly associated with inflammatory responses, defenses, and neutrophil degranulation. In addition, PomX treatment affects the cecal microbiome with increased alpha diversity, altered microbial composition, and increased levels of the tryptophan-related microbial metabolite indole propionate. Conclusion The data demonstrate that dietary PomX supplementation ameliorated colitis and lowered inflammatory markers in HFHS fed IL-10-/- mice. These data support the anti-inflammatory effects of dietary PomX supplementation for IBD and a potential mediating role of gut microbiome, suggesting the need for future clinical studies to explore the use of PomX dietary supplementation in IBD patients.

Automated summary

This study found that dietary supplementation of pomegranate extract (PomX) can ameliorate colitis and reduce inflammatory markers in mice fed a Western diet. These effects may be mediated by the impact of PomX on the gut microbiome.