Introduction: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a global health problem with high incidence and morbidity rates. It is considered as one of the most common diseases of large intestine in humans even in pediatric population.
Aim of Work: The goal of this work is to evaluate the potential therapeutic effects of exosomes derived from adipose MSCs (ADMSCs-E) on a male rat model of acetic acid induced colitis.
Materials and Methods: 39 rats divided into 3 groups: Group (I) Control (n= 13 rats). Group (II) colitis (n=13) received intra-colonic dose of 2 ml of 4% acetic acid once: 3 of them were sacrificed at day 2, the remaining were divided into 2 subgroups: (IIa) (5 rats), and (IIb) (5 rats): sacrificed at the 9th and 16th day of the experiment respectively. Group (III) exosomes-treated (n= 13): as group II, then on day 2 each rat received single intravenous dose of ADMSCs-E. 24 hours later (day 3) 3 rats were sacrificed. The remaining were divided into 2 subgroups: (IIIa) (5 rats), and (IIIb) (5 rats): sacrificed with the subgroups IIa and IIb, respectively. Colonic sections were stained with Hematoxylin & Eosin, Alcian blue as well as immunohistochemical staining for NF-κB as well as biochemical homogenate study for TNF-α. Morphometry and statistical analysis were done.
Results: Colitis group showed deterioration of rats' general condition, ulceration of colonic mucosa, goblet cells depletion, inflammatory cell infiltration with increased TNF-α and NF-κBimmunostaining. Restoration of colonic mucosa and goblet cells with decreased TNF-α, NF-κB immunostaining were detected in exosomes-treated group.
Conclusion: Exosomes had the ability to attenuate acetic acid induced colitis at a faster rate than that occurred with the spontaneous recovery and to an extent comparable to normalization.