The alteration of the intestinal barrier function is currently believed to be involved in the pathogenesis of gut diseases mainly associated with the activation of inflammation processes.

Diet plays an important role in the control of human gut integrity. Theobromine is a natural methylxanthine present in dark chocolate particularly abundant in cocoa bean shell. This is a polyphenol rich by-product generated in cocoa industrial processing, which is gaining value as a functional ingredient. This study aims to highlight for the first time the capability of theobromine in protecting the intestinal cell monolayer from a mixture of dietary oxysterols showing an inflammatory action in terms of IL-8 and MCP-1 overproduction. Differentiated CaCo-2 cells were treated with 60 μM oxysterol mixture and pre-incubated with 10 μM theobromine. Intestinal barrier damage was investigated in terms of tight junction claudin 1, occludin and JAM-A protein levels, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) −2 and −9 activation and anti/pro-apoptotic protein changes.

The observed cell monolayer permeability protection by theobromine may be due to its ability to inhibit the production of cytokines and MMPs that can be responsible for tight junction loss and apoptosis in intestinal cells. Our findings provide additional mechanistic hints on the healthy effect of theobromine cocoa component as an attractive natural molecule in the prevention of inflammatory gut diseases.

目前认为肠屏障功能的改变与肠道疾病的发病机理有关，主要与炎症过程的激活有关。

饮食在控制人体肠道完整性方面起着重要作用。可可碱是存在于黑巧克力中的天然甲基黄嘌呤，在可可豆壳中含量特别丰富。这是可可工业加工过程中产生的富含多酚的副产物，作为功能成分正在获得价值。这项研究旨在首次强调可可碱保护肠道单层细胞免受饮食中的氧化固醇混合物影响的能力，这些混合物在IL-8和MCP-1生产过剩方面表现出炎症作用。用60μM氧固醇混合物处理分化的CaCo-2细胞，并用10μM可可碱预孵育。根据紧密连接的claudin 1，occludin和JAM-A蛋白水平，基质金属蛋白酶（MMP）-2和-9活化和抗/促凋亡蛋白变化研究了肠屏障损伤。

观察到的可可碱对细胞单层通透性的保护可能是由于其抑制细胞因子和MMPs产生的能力，这些细胞因子和MMPs可能导致肠道细胞紧密连接的丧失和细胞凋亡。我们的发现为可可碱可可成分作为一种有吸引力的天然分子在预防炎症性肠病中的健康作用提供了更多的机理提示。