Increasing functional food ingredients such as flavonoids have been confirmed to exhibit significant effects on improving the function of intestinal barrier. Puerarin, an isoflavone extracted from Pueraria, was reported to play an active role in many diseases. Our previous research found that puerarin can improve enteritis by increasing mucin secretion and increase intestinal tight connectivity in mice. In this study, Caco-2 cell model was utilized to investigate the protective effects of puerarin on ethanol-induced intestinal tight junction injury. Results exhibited that puerarin could protect the integrity of the Caco-2 monolayer and inhibit the down-regulation of tight junction proteins (Z0-1, Claudin-1 and Occludin) expression induced by ethanol. Moreover, the puerarin administration exerted antagonistic function in regulating the alterations of tight junction related signalling pathways (NF-κB, ERK1 and ERK2) induced by ethanol, which may pave the way for puerarin might function as a candidate supplement to enhance intestinal barrier function.

已经证实，增加功能性食品成分（如类黄酮）对改善肠屏障功能具有显著作用。葛根素是从葛根中提取的异黄酮，据报道在许多疾病中都起着积极作用。我们以前的研究发现，葛根素可以通过增加粘蛋白的分泌和增加小鼠肠道紧密连接来改善肠炎。在这项研究中，Caco-2细胞模型用于研究葛根素对乙醇诱导的肠道紧密连接损伤的保护作用。结果表明，葛根素可以保护Caco-2单层的完整性，并抑制乙醇诱导的紧密连接蛋白（Z0-1，Claudin-1和Occludin）表达的下调。此外，