Effect of Gum Arabic on disease activity of Ulcerative Colitis: Colon Motility and Mucosal Permeability Studies in a Mouse Disease Model

The purpose of the current project is to study the possible protective, as well as therapeutic, effect of Gum Arabic (GA) on colonic motility and mucosal permeability in a disease model of ulcerative colitis (UC) in mice induced by ingestion of water containing Dextran Sodium Sulfate (DSS). For this purpose, the motility will be studied using Tissue-Organ Bath System. Additionally, the cell-cell junctions in the colonic mucosae obtained from wild type (WT) and DSS-treated mice will be structurally and functionally studies and compared. To achieve this goal different experimental methods will be employed e.g. real-time PCR, immunostaining, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) as well as measurement of trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) in isolated colonic mucosal sheets and monolayers of cultured colonic epithelial cells.