Identification of characteristic markers in Castanopsis fissa honey and its anti‐inflammatory mechanism in ulcerative colitis: a multi‐strategy approach

BACKGROUND: Castanopsis fissa honey (CFH) is a rare monofloral honey recognized for its unique flavor and potential health benefits, yet its specific chemical markers and biological mechanisms remain largely uncharacterized. This study aims to identify the characteristic metabolites of CFH and evaluate its protective effects against inflammatory bowel disease using an integrated strategy of metabolomics, machine learning, network pharmacology and molecular docking. RESULTS: Untargeted and targeted metabolomics identified apigenin, xanthurenic acid and N-acetyldopamine as the key metabolic markers of CFH, which were successfully used to distinguish it from other honey types via a random forest model. Network pharmacology and molecular docking revealed that these active compounds possess high binding affinity for targets such as MPO, PTGS2 and AKT1, with predicted involvement of inflammation-related pathways, including the interleukin-17 and tumor necrosis factor signaling pathways. Furthermore, in vivo experiments demonstrated that CFH significantly reduced the disease activity index, alleviated histological colonic damage and restored gut microbiota balance in dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis mice. CONCLUSIONS: These results confirm that CFH is rich in specific anti-inflammatory metabolites and effectively mitigates ulcerative colitis in mice. These findings support the potential of CFH as a functional food with protective effects against intestinal inflammation, although further studies are required to determine its therapeutic efficacy after disease onset. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.