The protection of Evodiamine against Ulcerative Colitis and Colorectal Cancer via anti-inflammation

Evodiamine (Evo), a kind of alkaloid mostly extracted from Tetradium ruticarpum, which has many pharmacological functions, such as antidiarrheal, antiemetic, and antiulcer effects. In this study, the effects of Evo were investigated in DSS-induced ulcerative colitis (UC) mice and C57BL/6-ApcMinC/Gpt mice with colorectal cancer (CRC). The results showed Evo not only sup-pressed the weight loss and the shorthen of colon, decreased disease activity index (DAI) and ameliorated the pathological alteration of colon in UC mice, but also inhibited the numbers and sizes of colonic tumor of ApcMinC/Gpt mice. Meanwhiles, Evo regulated nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) related signal pathways to mediate various cytokines such as interleukins (Ils), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) to achieve anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects. In SW480 and Caco cells, Evo reduced the cell viabilities, promoted the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and caused the over-accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Theoretical evi-dences indicated Evo binding NF-κB may be useful to contain ordered domain (α helix) in NF-κB, which can induce NF-κB to perform its function. Our results provide experimental and theoretical evidence that Evo might be promising and effective treatments in clinics for UC and CRC.