Effects of beta glucan from oats in Crohn’s disease – a preclinical study
WUEB project coordinator: Joanna Paulina Harasym, Ph.
SGGW project manager: prof. dr hab. Joanna Gromadzka-Ostrowska
Crohn’s disease, one of the gastrointestinal disorders increasingly prevalent in societies in developed countries, primarily affects the very young and children. It is a condition that is very troublesome for patients, and disorders in the composition and metabolism of the intestinal microbiota, in addition to an autoimmune basis, play an important role in its origin. The abundance and reciprocal ratio of the different types of bacteria inhabiting the human gastrointestinal tract are significantly influenced by the quantitative and qualitative composition of the food consumed. Pharmacological
therapy for Crohn’s disease is very invasive to the body and inconvenient for patients, so there is a search for effective nutritional therapies, based on biologically active ingredients of plant origin, which would effectively reduce the clinical symptoms of the disease, as well as accelerate the appearance of the remission period and prolong its duration.
Previous research results indicate that such plant components may be polysaccharides isolated from oat grains, which are part of the soluble fiber fraction – low molar mass beta-glucans. The results of studies on animal models of various human gastrointestinal diseases, as well as on cell lines, including cancer cells, have shown many health-promoting activities of these compounds. These include immune stimulating activities, as well as anti-cancer and prebiotic effects, i.e. stimulating the bacteria of the
gastrointestinal tract.
The purpose of this project is to study the therapeutic effect of beta-glucan from low molar weight oats on two models of Crohn’s disease: a domestic pig, in which the condition will be induced by a chemical agent (in vivo model), and a culture composed of three types of human colon epithelial cells, in which the lesions characteristic of the condition will be induced by one of the main inflammatory agents in Crohn’s disease (in vitro model). The results obtained on the pig model will have the merit of preclinical studies of the therapeutic effect of beta-glucans from
low molar weight oats in Crohn’s disease, since the anatomy, physiology and microbiology of the digestive tract of this animal is very similar to those attributes of the human digestive tract. The results of the cell model study will provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of the therapeutic effects of beta-glucan from low-molar-weight oats in Crohn’s disease.
Analysis of the biological material obtained both in vivo and in vitro will be carried out using novel methods, including next-generation sequencing (NGS) to determine very precisely the changes in the composition and abundance of intestinal bacteria at the genus and species level, as well as the immunohistochemical localization in intestinal cells of the proteins responsible for their apoptosis and proliferation, and the tight junctions between intestinal epithelial cells. Markers of inflammation, expression of their genes and neurotransmitters will also be determined, which will allow us to determine the scale
of involvement of the regulatory gut-brain axis in the mechanisms of therapeutic action in Crohn’s disease of oat beta-glucans.
Funding organization:
National Science Center
Programme:
OPUS 24
Project duration:
20/06/2023 – 19/06/2026
Funding amount:
2 737 914 PLN
Project status:
Project in progress
