International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article Idebenone Protects against Acute Murine Colitis via Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Mechanisms Sonia Shastri 1,*, Tanvi Shinde 1,2 , Sukhwinder Singh Sohal 1, Nuri Gueven 3 and Rajaraman Eri 1,* 1 Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Health Sciences, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania 7250, Australia;
[email protected] (T.S.);
[email protected] (S.S.S.) 2 Centre for Food Safety and Innovation, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Tasmania 7250, Australia 3 Pharmacy, School of Medicine, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7005, Australia;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] (S.S.);
[email protected] (R.E.); Tel.: +61-4-4992-4236 (S.S.); +61-3-6226-5017 (R.E.) Received: 3 December 2019; Accepted: 9 January 2020; Published: 12 January 2020 Abstract: Oxidative stress is a key player of the inflammatory cascade responsible for the initiation of ulcerative colitis (UC). Although the short chain quinone idebenone is considered a potent antioxidant and a mitochondrial electron donor, emerging evidence suggests that idebenone also displays anti-inflammatory activity. This study evaluated the impact of idebenone in the widely used dextran sodium sulphate (DSS)-induced mouse model of acute colitis. Acute colitis was induced in C57BL/6J mice via continuous exposure to 2.5% DSS over 7 days. Idebenone was co-administered orally at a dose of 200 mg/kg body weight. Idebenone significantly prevented body weight loss and improved the disease activity index (DAI), colon length, and histopathological score.