One of the subgroups of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), ulcerative colitis is characterized by abnormal immune responses in the colon that cause the inflammatory cascades. The prevalence of ulcerative colitis is rising everywhere, including in Iran. Coumaric acid, a phenolic acid present in a variety of fruits, vegetables, and plants of the Gramineae family, offers a number of health benefits, including anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer properties. The aim of the present study is to examine the coumaric acid's anti-inflammatory properties on the colon tissues of the acetic acid-induced colitis model.

In this study, 40 Wistar rats were grouped into 5 groups (n = 8) and colitis was induced with 1 ml of 4% acetic acid. groups of rats were as follows: Normal control without induction of colitis, ulcerative colitis group without treatment, and the other group was ulcerative colitis rats which treated orally with a single dose of dexamethasone (2 mg/kg per day) and the last 2 groups were ulcerative colitis rats which treated orally with two different doses (100 and 150 mg/kg per day) of coumaric acid as experiment group. Rats were administered the desired treatments for 4 consecutive days after colitis was induced. To evaluate the protective mechanism of coumaric acid, the tissue level of il1b, was examined using the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA).

Colitis causes an increase in inflammatory cytokines in the colon. Our research revealed that coumaric acid alleviated the adverse effects of colitis induced by acetic acid.

coumaric acid through reducing the inflammatory response had protective effects on rats with colitis induced by acetic acid.