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Effect of egg white and honey enema on ulcerative colitis in an animal model

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Abstract

Egg and honey contain a variety of bioactive compounds that can influence pro- and anti-inflammatory pathways and have effects on oxidative stress. In this study, the effects of egg white and honey against acetic acid-induced colitis were investigated in rats. Forty adult rats were divided into five groups (n = 7), group I (normal saline), group II (egg white), group III (honey), group IV (Asacol® 100 mg/ml used as a positive control), and group V (combination of honey and egg white 50:50 v/v). Medications (2 cc/day) were administered rectally for a period of 6 days after induction of colitis using 2% acetic acid. Animals were killed on day 7 and colonic biopsies were taken for histopathological scoring. The concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA) and TNF-α was measured on the samples of the colon tissue that were frozen in liquid nitrogen. At 1 week, the histological damage was severe, and the MDA and TNF-α were high throughout the study without any treatment. Honey decreased the TNF-α and MDA tissue levels towards normal levels significantly (P < 0.05). Combination of honey and egg white was not better than honey alone as an anti-inflammatory agent. In the animal model of ulcerative colitis, rectal administration of honey significantly reduced the colonic inflammation. The present study indicates that honey is efficacious in the acetic acid-induced rat colitis model, but these results require further confirmation in human studies and determination of active ingredients.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate Sajad Daneshi for his technical assistant and the laboratory animal center of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences for provision and care of the animals and the RCC center in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences for English editing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Colorectal Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Seyed Vahid Hosseini, Hajar Khazraei & Mozhdeh Zamani

  2. Alsadr Medical City, Kufa, Iraq

    Ehsan Abdulwahid Majeed Abodrab

  3. Pathology Department, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Maral Mokhtari

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  1. Seyed Vahid Hosseini
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  2. Ehsan Abdulwahid Majeed Abodrab
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  3. Hajar Khazraei
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Correspondence to Hajar Khazraei.

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The author declares that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does contain studies with animals performed by the authors and the study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences according to the principles of laboratory animal care (no.16273).

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Hosseini, S.V., Abodrab, E.A.M., Khazraei, H. et al. Effect of egg white and honey enema on ulcerative colitis in an animal model. Comp Clin Pathol 29, 61–68 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-019-03023-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00580-019-03023-9

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