Abstract 1779: Dietary supplementation of haskap berry anthocyanin and probiotics attenuate the severity of DSS-induced acute colitis in Balb/c mice

Abstract Introduction: Colitis-associated colorectal cancer is a specific type of colorectal cancer that develops from long-standing chronic inflammatory conditions in colorectal epithelium. Genotoxic compounds produced by inflammatory cells can damage DNA and thereby can initiate malignant transformation. Haskap (Lonicera caerulea L.) berry, is a rich source of dietary anthocyanins, specifically cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G). C3G has been shown to possess anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. This study aimed at investigating the oral supplementation of free- or microencapsulated-haskap anthocyanin (310 mg/kg of body weight/mouse) alone or with probiotics (1×109 CFU/day) on the severity reduction of dextran sulphate sodium (DSS)- induced acute colitis in Balb/c mice. Methodology: The study was carried out in two main phases: 1) optimization of microencapsulation of haskap anthocyanin using novel coating materials; and 2) Investigating the combined effect of anthocyanin and probiotics on DSS-induced acute colitis in vivo. Maltodextrin and inulin (3:1 w/w) were used as coating materials and four different core to shell ratios (1:1, 1:1.5, 1:2 and 1:3) were tested. The best ratio (1:1.5) was selected based on the physical characteristics, encapsulation yield, efficiency, recovery, and anthocyanin retention in the particles and was then used in DSS induced acute colitis model. Thirty-five Balb/C male mice of seven weeks old were divided into seven dietary supplementation groups (n=5) to receive either free anthocyanin, microencapsulated anthocyanin, or probiotics alone or as combinations of anthocyanin and probiotics. The colonic inflammation of mice was induced by oral administration of DSS at 3% for 7 days. Attenuation of acute colitis was investigated through clinical data, western blot, histopathology, and ELISA. Results: None of the dietary supplements showed hepatotoxicity in experimental mice hence the tested amounts were in safe limits. Compared with the DSS alone group, anthocyanin + probiotics supplemented group significantly inhibited the severity of colitis as measured by colon shortening, and disease activity index score. All the supplementary diets reduced the expression of occludin but had no effect on claudin-3 and claudin-4 expressions. Histological assessments, measures of inflammatory mediators and characterization of the gut microbiome will be presented. Conclusions: Dietary supplementation of haskap berry anthocyanin + probiotics protects against DSS-induced colitis possibly through attenuating the epithelial inflammation. Citation Format: K.V. Surangi Dharmawansa, Andrew Stadnyk, H.P. Vasantha Rupasinghe. Dietary supplementation of haskap berry anthocyanin and probiotics attenuate the severity of DSS-induced acute colitis in Balb/c mice [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1779.