Protective effects of osthole, a natural derivative of coumarin, against intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury in mice.

Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is considered to be associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Osthole, a natural derivative of coumarin, has been shown to exert a variety of pharmacological and therapeutic effects under physiological and pathological conditions. In the present study, to investigate the protective effects of osthole against intestinal I/R injury, various doses of osthole (5, 10, 25 and 50 mg/kg) were pre-administered to mice subjected to intestinal I/R injury. A dose-dependent increase in the survival rate was observed in the osthole-treated mice. Pre-treatment with osthole (50 mg/kg) attenuated the destruction of epithelial cells within the villi induced by intestinal I/R injury, and suppressed oxidative stress, neutrophil infiltration and modulated nitric oxide (NO) levels. Moreover, the increased IκBα phosphorylation and nuclear factor (NF)-κB nuclear translocation induced by I/R injury were significantly decreased following pre-treatment with osthole. Taken together, our data demonstrate that osthole exerts protective effects against intestinal I/R injury in mice by suppressing oxidative stress, neutrophil infiltration and NO levels, partly through the inhibition of NF-κB nuclear translocation. Hence, the findings of the present study provide insight into the mechanisms through which osthole exerts its protective effects against intestinal I/R injury.