The ¹³C-Butyrate Breath Test: a New Non-Invasive Method for Assessing Colitis in a Murine Model

Abstract

The conventional method for the real-time assessment of murine colitis requires a large number of animals. The ¹³C-butyrate breath test could be useful for evaluating disease activity and the amelioration of human ulcerative colitis non-invasively. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether this test can be used to assess the phase of inflammation in murine colitis. We investigated the excretion of ¹³CO₂ measured by the ¹³C-butyrate breath test after rectal instillation of butyrate in the DSS colitis model. The colon length, MPO activity, and histological damage were analyzed as parameters. The efficacy of salicylazosulfa-pyridine (SASP) on ¹³CO₂ excretion was also studied. The ¹³CO₂ excretion curves in the 0.5% DSS– and 0.75% DSS–treated groups were significantly lower than those in the normal group (P < 0.01, P < 0.01). Good correlation between the results of the breath test and the inflammation parameters was observed. The ¹³CO₂ excretion curve in DSS murine colitis after the administration of SASP was significantly higher than in the normal group (P < 0.01). The ¹³C-butyrate breath test can be used to evaluate the inflammatory phase of DSS murine colitis, and it may be a new non-invasive method for assessing murine colitis.