Wheat oligopeptides enhance the intestinal mucosal barrier and alleviate inflammation via the TLR4/Myd88/MAPK signaling pathway in aged mice.

Background: Aging can induce oxidative stress, inflammation and mucosal impairment, and few works have been conducted to investigate the protective effects of WP on the natural intestinal aging process. Objective: The present work aimed to examine the protective effect of wheat oligopeptides (WP) on intestine mucosal impairment in aged mice, and investigate the potential antioxidation, anti-inflammatory effects of WP. Design: Seventy-two aged mice (24 months old) were randomly divided into six groups, 12 for each group. Twelve young mice (6 months old) were regarded as the young control group. WP (25, 50, 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg) or distilled water were administered daily by gavage for 30 days. Results: Histological observations showed that intestinal mucosal degeneration was attenuated by WP pretreatment. WP exhibited remarkable antioxidant activity via increasing superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, total antioxidant capacity and catalase activities, and decreasing the malondialdehyde levels in small intestine mucosa. WP pretreatment significantly suppressed intestinal mucosa inflammation through the reduction of TNF-α, TGF-β, IFN-γ IL-1β and IL-6. WP markedly protect the intestinal mucosal barrier by decreasing the ICAM-1 level, and increasing ZO-1 and JAMA-A levels. WP significantly down-regulated protein expression levels of TLR4, Myd88, and MAPK, suggesting that WP have a potential effect on inhibiting aging-induced inflammatory responses by blocking TLR4/Myd88/MAPK signal transduction. Conclusion: WP administration effectively alleviated intestinal mucosal impairment in aged mice. The potential mechanism was associated with enhancement of antioxidation and anti-inflammatory action and protection of the intestinal mucosal barrier.