Clinacanthus nutans restores the intestinal barrier in UC via regulatings oxidative stress to suppress the occurrence of ferroptosis

Clinacanthus nutans (CN) is an edible plant with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory bowel disease affecting the colonic mucosa and submucosa, but its therapeutic effects on UC have not been investigated. In this study, we investigated the potential therapeutic role of CN in restoring the mucosal barrier in UC model mice by inhibiting oxidative stress and ferroptosis. The results showed that CN could repair the intestinal mucosal barrier, reduce colonic epithelial cell damage caused by colonic inflammation, and regulate intestinal flora. On the other hand, CN inhibited oxidative stress and unsaturated fatty acid peroxidation through activation of the Nrf2/GPX4 axis pathway, which further reduced the damage to colonic tissues caused by ferroptosis, thereby maintaining the integrity of the epithelial cell barrier and restoring intestinal epithelial cell activity.