THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF MYRTUS COMMUNIS SUBSP.COMMUNIS EXTRACT AGAINST ACETIC ACID-INDUCED COLONIC INFLAMMATION IN RATS ALI SEN 1 , MERAL YUKSEL 2 , GIZEM BULUT 3 , LEYLA BITIS 1 , FERIHA ERCAN 4 , NAGEHAN OZYILMAZ-YAY 4 , OZBEN AKBULUT 5 , HAMIT COBANO  GLU 5 , SEVIL OZKAN 6 and GOKSEL SENER 5,7 1 Department of Pharmacognosy, Marmara University, School of Pharmacy, Istanbul, Turkey 2 Marmara University, Vocational School of Health Related Professions, Istanbul, Turkey 3 Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Marmara University, School of Pharmacy, Istanbul, Turkey 4 Department of Histology & Embryology, Marmara University, School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkey 5 Department of Pharmacology, Marmara University, School of Pharmacy, Tıbbiye Street, 34688 Istanbul, Turkey 6 Department of Internal Medicine, Haydarpasa Numune Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey 7 Corresponding author. TEL: 00-90-216-414-29-62; FAX: 00-90-216-345-29-52; EMAIL: gokselsener@hotmail.com; gsener@marmara.edu.tr Received for Publication December 20, 2015 Accepted for Publication April 28, 2016 doi: 10.1111/jfbc.12297 ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ethanol extract from leaves of Myrtus communis subsp. communis (MC) on acetic acid (AA)-induced ulcerative colitis in rats. On the fourth day of colitis induction, all rats were decapitated. Colitis was assessed by macroscopic and microscopic scores and by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) levels, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, luminol, lucigenin, nitric oxid and peroxynitrite chemiluminescence (CL). Colitis caused significant increases in the colonic MDA levels, MPO activity, CL values, macroscopic and microscopic damage scores along with significant decrease in tissue GSH level. However, treatment with MC extract reversed all these biochemical indices, as well as histopathological alterations induced by AA with the protective effects being similar to that of sulphasalazine treatment. The study showed that MC extract could alleviate colitis in rats and can be considered an alternative therapeutic approach for management of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Myrtus communis subsp. communis leaves are used as antihypertensive, antitussive, antiemetic, diuretic, antidiarrheic, cardiotonic, antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory agents in folk medicine. This study revealed that the ethanol extract of the plant possesses significant anti-inflammatory activity, confirming its traditional use. INTRODUCTION Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease, are idiopathic chronic inflammations particularly in the colon and rectum (Wells et al. 2009). Although the exact pathogenesis remains unknown, evidence had shown that it involves interactions between the immune system, genetic predisposition and environment (Sobczak et al. 2014). As UC is a multifactorial disorder, mechanisms underlying initiation, progression and chronicity may be different (Elson et al. 1995). Thus, various experimental colitis models have been used to evaluate both mechanisms of disease and effective therapeutic agents. Of these models, the acetic acid (AA)-induced colitis model has been shown to have more morphological similarities to human UC (Fabia et al. 1992). Current treatment strategies for both types of IBD are corticosteroids and aminosalicylates (Carty and Rampton 2003; Minaiyan et al. 2011). Furthermore, there are Journal of Food Biochemistry 00 (2016) 00–00 V C 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1 Journal of Food Biochemistry ISSN 1745–4514