The Therapeutic Potential of Time-Restricted Fasting on Experimental Ulcerative Colitis

Aim: Intermittent fasting have been reported to have beneficial effect, in that it improves gut microbiota and lowers inflammation. This research is, however, targeted at evaluating the healing effects of fasting on ulcerative colitis in rats.

Study Design: A total of eighteen Wistar rats were used for this study, and were divided into three major groups; animals that were neither induced with colitis nor fasted (group 1), animals with colitis and were allowed to fast (group 2), animals with colitis but were not allowed to fast (group 3).

Place and duration of study: Department of Physiology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, between March, 2020 and July, 2020

Methodology: The weight of the 18 animals used was 180 ± 20 g. Colitis was induced by a single dose of intra-rectal administration of 1mL/100g body weight of 6% acetic acid. Animals in group 1 served as control animals. Animals in group 2 were only given access to food between 4:00 p.m and 6:30 p.m, whereas animals in group 3 were given food and water ad libitum. Animals were sacrificed ten days post colitis induction. Colonic levels of Tumor necrotic factor-alpha (TNFα), Glutathione (GSH) concentration, Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT) and Myeloperoxidase (MPO) activities were measured. The blood glucose level in the animals was also recorded by the use of a glucometer.

Results: There was a reduction in the concentration of TNFα and GSH, an increase in CAT and SOD activities in the colitis animals that were allowed to fast when compared with colitis animals that were not allowed to fast, ten days post colitis induction. There was also the lowering of blood sugar level, all signifying the beneficial effect of fasting on chemically-induced colitis. Thus, intermittent fasting helped the animals to heal from chemically-induced colitis.