Vitamin E is Effective in Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis Induced by Iodoacetamide in Rats

Ulcerative colitis, is a life-threatening chronic inflammatory disease which affects the gastrointestinal tract especially colon and rectum. The present investigation aims to elucidate the possible protective effective of vitamin E on ulcerative colitis induced by administration of iodoacetamide to adult male albino rats. Animals were divided into (4) groups, each of 8 rats. The first group was kept as normal control group. The other three groups were once administrated 0.1 ml of 3% iodoacetamide rectally then treated with saline in ulcerative colitis control, sulfasalazine in standard and vitamin E in treatment group on a daily basis for (7) consecutive days starting from the day of induction. Animals were sacrificed (24) h after the lost dose and tissue samples were collected. Administration of iodoacetamide induced UC in rats evidenced by significant increase in colon ulcer score, colon weight/length ratio, colon myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, colon total nitrate/nitrite (NOx) production and colon malondialdehyde (MDA) content, In addition, significant decrease in colon superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and colon glutathione (GSH) content. Treatment with sulfasalazine or vitamin E improved UC as evidenced by significant decrease in colon ulcer score, colon weight/length ratio, colon MPO activity, colon NOx production and colon MDA content, In addition, significant increase in colon CAT activity and colon GSH content. It seems that vitamin E is protective against UC in rats and is promising for further chemical trials.