Mechanism of the Antioxidant Action of Antarctic Krill Oil in Mice with Ulcerative Colitis Induced by Dextran Sulfate Sodium

Objective: To explore the antioxidant effect and underlying mechanism of Antarctic krill oil (AKO) in mice suffering from dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis (UC).Methods: BALB/c mice were randomly divided into four groups: normal, UC model, low-dose AKO (L-AKO, 0.25 g/(kg mb•d)) and high-dose(H-AKO, 0.5 g/(kg mb•d)) AKO treatments.Mice were induced to develop UC by adding 3.5% DSS to their drinking water for one week. Colon tissues were collected after the mice were euthanized to observe histological changes by hematoxylineosin (H&E) staining, and the expression levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), lipopolysaccharides (LPS), and diamine oxidase (DAO) in colon tissues were detected. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and Western blot were used to further determine theexpression of genes and key proteins related to the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) signaling pathway in the colon.Results: H-AKO treatment could not only attenuate colon injury caused by DSS intervention, but also significantly increase the expression of antioxidant enzyme genes (P © 2022, China Food Publishing Company. All right reserved.