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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1474989
This article is part of the Research Topic Prevention and Treatment of Metabolic Diseases Using Bioactive Metabolites of Herbal Medicines Also Used as Foods View all 3 articles

Portulaca oleracea L. (purslane) extract ameliorates intestinal inflammation in diet-induced obese mice through inhibiting TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway

Provisionally accepted
Lingchao Miao Lingchao Miao 1Meng Sam Cheong Meng Sam Cheong 1Haolin Zhang Haolin Zhang 1Prof. Dr. Haroon Khan Prof. Dr. Haroon Khan 2Hongxun Tao Hongxun Tao 3Yuxiao Wang Yuxiao Wang 4Wai San Cheang Wai San Cheang 1*
  • 1 University of Macau, Taipa, China
  • 2 Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
  • 3 Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 4 Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, Shandong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Portulaca oleracea L. (purslane) is a dietary plant and a botanical drug with anti-oxidative, anti-diabetes and anti-inflammatory activities. Yet the effect of purslane to mitigate against intestinal inflammation associated in obesity remains to be studied. In the current study, we hypothesized that purslane extract can reduce intestinal inflammation associated with metabolic disorder.Results: Male C57BL/6J mice were fed with a high-fat diet (HFD, 60% kcal% fat) for a total of 14 weeks to establish an obesity model whereas treatment group was orally administered with purslane extract (200 mg/kg/day) during the last 4 weeks. Intestine tissues were detached from mice for detection of protein expressions by western blot and immunohistochemistry. Pro-inflammatory cytokines were determined by ELISA kits whereas components in purslane extract were detected by UPLC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS. Chronic oral administration of purslane extract ameliorated colon shortening syndrome and reduced bowels inflammation of HFD-induced obese mice through suppression on toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/ nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway to downregulate TLR4, myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), Ser32 phosphorylation of NF-κB inhibitor alpha (IκBα) and Ser536 phosphorylation of NF-κB p65 expression levels, thereby inhibiting the pro-inflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 levels.The present study supported the anti-inflammatory potential of purslane extract for modulating bowel inflammation under the obesity condition through inhibiting TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.

    Keywords: Purslane, Obesity, intestine, Inflammation, NF-κB pathway

    Received: 02 Aug 2024; Accepted: 04 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Miao, Cheong, Zhang, Khan, Tao, Wang and Cheang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Wai San Cheang, University of Macau, Taipa, China

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