(P15-006-25) Impact of Jucara (Euterpe edulis) Supplementation on Intestinal Health of Mice Fed a High-Fat, High-Sucrose, High-Salt Diet

Objectives: To determine the impact of Jucara (JU, Euterpe edulis), a tropical fruit native to the Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil, supplementation on the distal colon of mice fed a high-fat, high-sucrose, high-salt (HFHSS) diet.

Methods: Four-week-old UM-HET3 male mice were acclimated for one week, then fed either a control AIN-93M diet (low-fat, low-sucrose, low-salt, LFLSS) alone or supplemented with 5% (w/w) JU (LFLSS + JU) for 4 weeks. Mice consuming LFLSS remained on a LFLSS (n = 7) diet or were switched to a HFHSS alone (n = 8) while mice on LFLSS + JU were assigned to HFHSS + 5% (w/w) JU (n=10) for an additional 12 weeks. Distal colon was excised at sacrifice for protein expression analyses via Western Blot. Data were assessed for normality using the Shapiro-Wilk test and analyzed using one-way ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis followed by Tukey’s post-honor Dunn’s test, respectively, as appropriate.

Results: Supplementation of HFHSS with JU significantly (p= 0.0009) increased the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk)1/2. Even though not significant, the expression of the antioxidant enzymes heme oxygenase-1 and catalase were also downregulated by HFHSS diet, which was significantly prevented by JU supplementation (p = 0.03 and p = 0.004, respectively). Similarly, HFHSS significantly downregulated the expression of superoxide dismutase (Sod)-2 (p = 0.002) which was not prevented by JU. Expression of claudin (Cldn)-1, a tight junction protein, was increased compared to HFHSS (p = 0.09) and LFLSS (p = 0.07), albeit not significantly. Cldn-4 was not significantly different among groups.

Conclusions: Our preliminary findings show that JU supplementation mitigates the detrimental effects of HFHSS on the expression of antioxidant enzymes in the colon and may improve intestinal barrier health. Further analysis to examine the effect of JU supplementation on intestinal inflammatory markers is ongoing.

Funding Sources: Lewis College Foundation Award