Peptides from Amaranth suppressed intestinal inflammation in a mouse model

QUEREDA, MICAELA; ORSINI DELGADO, LUCÍA; QUIROGA, ALEJANDRA; AÑON, MARIA CRISTINA; SMALDINI PAOLA L; DOCENA GUILLERMO H

Congreso; Reunion Annual de la Sociedad Argentina de Inmunología; 2021

Amaranth is a pseudocereal with a high content of proteins with good nutritional and health quality (anti-hypertensive, anti-oxidant, anti-thrombotic and anti-proliferative and anti-inflammatory effects). This study aimed to broaden the anti-inflammatory effect of peptides from Amaranth on mucosal inflammation in a colitis model.Colitis was induced in Balb/c mice with an intrarectal administration of TNBS in ethanol on day 0. Then mice were daily given a formulation containing a peptide of Amaranth (PA) during a week through the oral route. As control of colitis, mice received PBS or ETOH, or PBS as treatment. Corporal weight and disease activity index were monitored, and on day 7 mice were sacrificed. The colonic inflammatory response was analyzed (weight, length, histology, cytokine gene expression by qPCR).We found that PA reversed the weight loss of mice with TNBS-induced colitis (p<0.05). The colon of PA-treated mice showed a decreased histological score, with less edema and cellular infiltration than those from untreated TNBS-treated mice. Mice treated with PA showed a colon with a lower weight/length ratio than mice from the TNBS group (21.56±0.46 vs 32.46±2.26; p<0.05). In concordance, we found a significantly decreased expression and production of proinflammatory cytokines (Ccl20, IL-1b, TNF and IFN-γ, p<0.01) and lower myeloperoxidase activity in the peptide-treated group than in TNBS-mice (p<0.05). Moreover, we found augmented NF-κB p65 levels along with a significantly higher transcript level of thepeptide transporter PepT1 in mice with colitis than in PA-treated mice (p<0.05).In conclusion, our findings indicated that peptides from Amaranth exert a mucosal anti-inflammatory effect that suppressed the TNBS-driven NF-kB-mediated intestinal inflammation that promoted a Th1-immunity. These findings led us to propose using the amaranth peptide in a functional food with an anti-inflammatory protective effect.