Caffeic acid attenuates hydrogen peroxide-induced inflammation in porcine small intestinal epithelial cells by inhibiting NF-κB-mediated NLRP3 inflammasome activation

This study aimed to investigate the effects of caffeic acid (CA) on the inflammatory response induced by hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) in porcine small intestinal epithelial cells (IPEC-J2 cells) and to elucidate the potential molecular mechanisms involved. Firstly, we treated IPEC-J2 cells with different concentrations of H 2 O 2 to establish the inflammation model caused by oxidative stress. Subsequently, we treated IPECJ2 cells with CA and/or H 2 O 2 to investigate the effect of CA on the inflammatory response of IPEC-J2 cells induced by H 2 O 2. In addition, IPEC-J2 cells were treated with a nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) inhibitor and a NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) inhibitor, so as to investigate the molecular mechanism by which caffeic acid alleviates H 2 O 2 -induced damage in porcine intestinal epithelial cells. The changes in cell morphology, intestinal epithelial cell damage, and the expression of genes related to the NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling axis were examined. The results showed that CA attenuated H 2 O 2 induced intestinal epithelial cell injury, and the mechanism may be related to the inhibition of NF-κB-mediated NLRP3 inflammasome activation. These findings were expected to provide a theoretical basis for more reasonable and effective application of CA, and provide new ideas for nutritional regulation measures to alleviate intestinal inflammation in piglets.