Anti-inflammatory Activity of Emu Oil in Indomethacin Induced Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Rats

Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic condition affecting human and animal species. The present study was taken up with the objective to test an animal product, emu oil against inflammatory bowel disease and to evaluate its activity in comparison to aloe vera (plant product) alone and in combination with emu oil. Experiment was performed in six groups containing 6 rats each. Rats were pre-treated for five consecutive days with sulfasalazine [100 mg/kg], aloe vera [400 mg/kg], emu oil [10 ml/kg] and the combination of aloe vera and emu oil to groups III, IV, V and VI respectively. The condition was induced using two consecutive subcutaneous injection of indomethacin [10 mg/kg] on day 4 and 5 in all groups except group I (control). Rats were sacrificed on day 8 and samples were collected for further analysis. Macroscopic lesions include ulceration [pin point to linear], perforation and necrotic epithelium in caecum. Microscopically, there was ulceration [loss of epithelium] and increased cellular infiltration. Emu oil was analysed through Gas chromatography–Mass spectrometry for fatty acid profiling and was found to contain mixture of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids. This was evident through the analysis of inflammatory and oxidative stress parameters of group V when compared to groups III and IV. However, the combination of aloe vera and emu oil showed better activity than all other groups. Hence it was concluded that emu oil might be attempted to treat the inflammatory conditions of gastro-intestinal tract as a part of alternative medicine. © 2015, The National Academy of Sciences, India.