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A study reported in the journal mSystems, affiliated with the American Society for Microbiology, suggests that high-fiber diets, including those incorporating broccoli sprouts or other cruciferous vegetables, may alleviate symptoms and enhance the quality of life in mice with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The research delved into the interactions between mice, their immune systems, the broccoli sprout diet, microbes in the gut affected by Crohn’s disease, and how these microbes utilized an inactive compound in the broccoli sprouts to generate an anti-inflammatory compound in the gut.
The study utilized four groups of IL-10-KO mice. In the first round, 4-week-old mice were provided with either standard mouse chow or mouse chow mixed with raw broccoli sprouts. The same diet groups were used in the second round, but the mice were 7 weeks old.
The researchers focused on understanding the development of IBDs in early life, studying Crohn’s mouse models in the juvenile stage (4-6 weeks old) and adolescence stage (7-9 weeks old) to gain insights into how host-diet-microbial community interactions and disease severity vary with age.
Following a 7-day acclimation period, during which the mice were fed their respective diets, researchers induced symptoms. New healthy mice with a richer microbe population were introduced to the cage. Since the IL-10-KO mice in the study have difficulty tolerating gut microbiota due to their inability to produce IL-10, the introduction of new microbes triggered colitis and Crohn’s symptoms. Over the next 15-16 days, the mice were regularly monitored for signs of colitis development.
At the conclusion of the study, the researchers examined the gut tissues of the euthanized mice, along with the microbial communities present in their intestines, as well as specific markers of inflammation and broccoli metabolites in the blood. They sought to understand which types of microbes inhabited particular parts of the gut.
The researchers also investigated how the broccoli sprout diet influenced microbial biogeography in the Crohn’s models, a factor that cannot be directly studied in humans. DNA extracted from intestinal tissue samples was sequenced to identify the bacteria present. Once the sequencing data was obtained, bioinformatics software and human expertise were employed to analyze the gut microbial ecology of the mouse models.
Lead author Lola Holcomb, a PhD candidate at the University of Maine, stated, “We found many exciting results from this study. First, we show that the mice that ate the broccoli sprout diet had a greater concentration of an anti-inflammatory metabolite called sulforaphane in their blood. Even though our mice were immunocompromised and had colitis, this increase in sulforaphane protected them from severe disease symptoms like weight loss, fecal blood, and diarrhea.”
Holcomb emphasized that the younger group of mice, the juveniles, responded more favorably to the broccoli sprout diet compared to their adolescent counterparts. The younger mice exhibited milder disease symptoms and a more diverse population of gut microbes. Additionally, they demonstrated a stronger similarity in bacterial communities and a more consistent composition throughout different parts of the gut.
