Different-sized triglycerides chains do not influence colitis induced by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid in rats

Abstract An elemental diet (ED) was established as a primary therapy for patients with Crohn’s disease, and one of its therapeutic mechanism might be due to its low fat content. However, it is thought to be important to investigate not only the quantity of dietary fat, but also the quality of the dietary fat. We therefore studied the effects of medium chain triglycerides (MCT) versus long chain triglycerides (LCT) on colitis induced by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) in rats in order to investigate whether enteral nutrition containing different-sized triglycerides chain influence intestinal inflammation. An elemental diet containing MCT or LCT was administered for 7 days through an intragastric catheter after an intracolonic injection of TNBS. The mucosal damage series in both groups did not differ significantly. The myeloperoxidase activities, leukotriene B4 levels and interleukin-8 levels also did not change between the MCT and LCT groups. These results indicated that 7 days of administration of different-sized triglycerides did not influence the rat colitis induced by TNBS.