Natural anti-inflammatory compounds for the management and adjuvant therapy of inflammatory bowel disease and its drug delivery system.

This project aims to investigate the anti-inflammatory properties of mastic [(Pistacia lentiscus var. Chia (Anacardiaceae)] extracted from the Chios mastic plant to help reduce intestinal inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease patients. Mastic and mastic resin were obtained from the Chios Mastiha Growers Association (www.mastihashop.com). The resin was ground into a fine powder using a pestle and mortar and formulated in factorial design manner. Evaluation of the efficacy of specific anti-inflammatory/antioxidant compounds in mitigating the clinical colitis parameters in a mouse model of colitis were performed with mastic itself and combination of tocopherol compounds. Colonic drug delivery system was developed consisting of two compartment model and its release profile was also investigated.