Intestinal anti-inflammatory activity of the polyphenolic-enriched extract Amanda ® in the trinitrobenzenesulphonic acid model of rat colitis Pedro Zorrilla a , Alba Rodriguez-Nogales a , Francesca Algieri a , Natividad Garrido-Mesa a , Monica Olivares b , Deyanira Rondón b , Antonio Zarzuelo a ,M a Pilar Utrilla a , Julio Galvez a,1 , M a Elena Rodriguez-Cabezas a,1, * a CIBER-EHD, Department of Pharmacology, Center for Biomedical Research, ibs.GRANADA, University of Granada, Granada, Spain b Department of Immunology and Animal Sciences, Biosearch S.A., Granada, Spain ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 6 June 2014 Received in revised form 14 October 2014 Accepted 21 October 2014 Available online ABSTRACT Alternative herbal therapy is increasingly used for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but it is essential to prove its safety and efficacy.We have assayed the anti-inflammatory effects of Amanda ® , a standardized water extract of Spanish Marcona almond skin very rich in poly- phenols, in the trinitrobenzenesulphonic acid (TNBS) model of rat colitis. Amanda ® reduced the inflamed/ulcerated colonic area and preserved the mucosal architecture. The extract decreased the inflammatory infiltrate and the myeloperoxidase activity, as well as im- proved the oxidative state by increasing the glutathione content. Amanda ® also modulated the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and inducible nitric oxide synthase. Besides, Amanda ® improved the epithelial barrier function by restoring the levels of villin and mucin MUC3. Thus, the data from this work prove that Amanda ® extract possesses therapeutic ac- tivity in TNBS-induced colitis in rats, targeting different pathological factors of IBD like oxidative stress, neutrophil mucosal infiltration and loss of intestinal epithelial barrier function. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Antioxidant activity Polyphenols TNBS rat colitis Prunus dulcis Cytokines Epithelial integrity 1. Introduction Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are the two main types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), typically characterized by chronic and spontaneously relapsing inflammation of the di- gestive tract. Their aetiology has not been fully elucidated, but it seems a combination of genetic and environmental factors that produce an exacerbated immune response in the intes- tine to innocuous stimuli are involved (Strober, Fuss, & Mannon, 2007). It has been proposed that the initial steps of these in- testinal conditions are related to an impairment of the intestinal epithelial integrity that can facilitate luminal antigen access to the lamina propria, and thus turn on the immune * Corresponding author. Department of Pharmacology, Center for Biomedical Research, University of Granada,Avenida del Conocimiento s/n 18100-Armilla, Granada, Spain. Tel.: +34 958 241519; fax: +34 958 248964. E-mail address: merodri@ugr.es (M.E. Rodriguez-Cabezas). 1 Both authors contributed equally to the supervision of the study. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2014.10.022 1756-4646/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. journal of functional foods 11 (2014) 449–459 Available at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jff