Mucoadhesive formulation of Bidens pilosa L. (Asteraceae) reduces intestinal injury from 5-fluorouracil-induced mucositis in mice

Gastrointestinal mucositis induced during cancer treatment is considered a serious dose-limiting side effect of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Frequently, interruption of the cancer treatment due to this pathology leads to a reduction in cure rates, increase of treatment costs and decrease life quality of the patient. Natural products such as Bidens pilosa L. (Asteraceae), represent a potential alternative for the treatment of mucositis given its anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, B. pilosa glycolic extract was formulated (BPF) with poloxamer, a mucoadhesive copolymer, was used for treatment of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-induced mucositis in mice. As expected, animals only treated with 5-FU (200 mg/kg) presented marked weight loss, reduction of intestinal villi, crypts and muscular layer, which was associated with severe disruption of crypts, edema, inflammatory infiltrate and vacuolization in the intestinal tissue, as compared to the control group and healthy animals only treated with BPF. On the other hand, the treatment of intestinal mucositis-bearing mice with BPF (75, 100 or 125 mg/kg) managed to mitigate clinical and pathologic changes, noticeably at 100 mg/kg. This dose led to the restoration of intestinal proliferative activity through increasing Ki-67 levels; modulated the expression of Bax, Bcl2 and p53 apoptotic markers protecting intestinal cells from cell death. Moreover, this treatment regulated lipid peroxidation and inflammatory infiltration. No acute toxic effects were observed with this formulation. This work demonstrated that BPF was safe and effective against 5-FU-induced intestinal mucositis in mice. Additional studies are already in progress to further characterize the mechanisms involved in the protective effects of this technological formulation toward the development of a new medicine for the prevention and treatment of intestinal injury in patients undergoing chemotherapy/radiotherapy.