Biochemical and histopathological evidence for beneficial effects of Empagliflozin pretreatment on acetic acid-induced colitis in rats

Background Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is a disorder which oxidative stress plays a critical role in its pathogenesis. Empagliflozin (EMPA) is a sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitor that has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effects of EMPA on acetic acid (AA) induced colitis in rats.Methods A total of twenty-four rats were divided into four groups (six animals in each group) as follows: (1) Control group; (2) acetic acid (AA)-induced colitis group (AA); (3) EMPA treatment group (AA + EMPA); (4) Dexamethasone (Dexa) treatment group (AA + Dexa). Animals in pre-treatment groups received EMPA (10 mg/kg, i.p.) or dexamethasone (4 mg/kg, i.p. as reference drug) for four consecutive days before induction of colitis by intra-rectal acetic acid (4% v/v) administration. Twenty-four hours after AA administration, rats were sacrificed and the colon tissues were removed for histopathological and biochemical evaluations.Results Pretreatment with EMPA significantly decreased colon weight/length ratio (81.00 +/- 5.28 mg/cm vs. 108.80 +/- 5.51 mg/cm) as well as, macroscopic (2.50 +/- 0.57 vs. 3.75 +/- 0.25) and histological scores (3.3 +/- 0.14 vs. 1.98 +/- 0.14) compared to the AA-induced colitis group (p < 0.01). Pretreatment with EMPA significantly reduced malondialdehyde (MDA) (324.0 +/- 15.93 vs. 476.7 +/- 32.26 nmol/mg p < 0.001) and increased glutathione level (117.5 +/- 4.48 vs. 94.38 +/- 3.950 mu mol/mg, p < 0.01) in comparison to the AA-induced colitis group. Furthermore, a significant increase in catalase (44.60 +/- 4.02 vs.14.59 +/- 2.03 U/mg, P < 0.01), superoxide dismutase (283.9 +/- 18.11 vs. 156.4 +/- 7.92 U/mg, p < 0.001), and glutathione peroxidase (10.38 +/- 1.45 vs. 2.508 +/- 0.37, p < 0.01) activities were observed by EMPA pretreatment when compared to the AA-induced colitis group. These results were in line with those of the reference drug.Conclusions It is concluded that EMPA could effectively reduce the severity of tissue injury in experimental colitis. This protective effect may be related to the antioxidative effects of EMPA drug.