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Abstract Background: Ulcerative colitis is a chronic debilitating disease. The existing treatment, including sulfasalazine, corticosteroids, azathioprine/6-mercaptopurine, cyclosporine, and antitumor necrosis factor therapy, frequently fails to cure the disease, necessitating the investigation of new drugs with less adverse effects. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to compare the anti-inflammatory effects of ezetimibe to those of sulfasalazine (salazosulfapyridine) in rats with experimentally induced colitis. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 adult males Albino-Wister rats were divided into four groups (each with 10 rats). Group I received no treatment and served as a negative control. Acetic acid4% (vol/vol) was used rectally to induce experimental colitis in the other three groups, where group II left without treatment. Sulfasalazine 100 mg/kg (group III) or ezetimibe 10 mg/kg (group IV) were used as a therapeutic dose orally for 1 week. The following parameter was estimated in the tissue homogenate of the colon: tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), nuclear factor kappa B-cell (NF-κB), and a histopathological score of the colonic tissue. Results: Both sulfasalazine and ezetimibe significantly reduced the level of TNF-α, IL-1β, and NF-κB compared with the induced colitis. Colon homogenate of TNF-α and IL-1β did not differ significantly between group III (197.25 ± 64.97 and 190.87 ± 36.86 pg/mL, respectively) and IV (223.72 ± 70.05 and 240.93 ± 61.56 pg/mL, respectively); however, ezetimibe-treated rats had significantly higher NF-κB than sulfasalazine-treated rats (3.35 ± 0.74 versus 2.11 ± 0.88 pg/mL). Both treatment modalities significantly ameliorated the histopathological score compared with induced colitis (3.0 ± 0.0), with the superiority of sulfasalazine over ezetimibe (0.57 ± 0.093 versus 1.39 ± 0.17). Conclusions: The results indicate that ezetimibe is an effective treatment (compared with sulfasalazine) for induced colitis by reducing the inflammatory response and ameliorating histopathological changes.
Jaafar et al. (Mon,) studied this question.