In Turkish folk medicine, leaves of Sorbus domestica are used for the treatment of burns, cough, stomachache, bradyuria, kidney stone. The fruits of this plant are used for diarrhoea.This study was carried out to investigate the effect of S. domestica on ulcerative colitis induced by acetic acid in rats.The crude methanolic extract of fruits was sequentially fractionated into five subextracts; dichloromethane, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and aqueous extracts. Effects of the extract, subextracts and fractions were investigated in acetic acid-induced rat colitis model. The colonic interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), nitrite, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), lipid peroxidation (LPO), catalase (CAT), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels as well as the caspase-3 and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activities were measured to determine the activity. Histopathological analyzes were also performed on the colon tissue of rats.The methanolic extract and diethylether subextract have led to a noteworthy decrease in MPO, caspase-3, IL-6, TNF-α, MDA, and nitrite levels in the colon tissue and blood. In addition, histopathological analysis results were supported by biochemical parameters. After confirmation of the activity against ulcerative colitis, the diethyl ether subextract was subjected to more chromatographic separation for the isolation of compounds 1, 2 and 3. The structures of these three compounds were elucidated as vanillic acid 4-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (1), protocateuic acid anhydrite (2) and trivanilloyl-(1,3,4-trihydroxybenzol) ester (3).In this study, the potential of S. domestica in the treatment of colitis was investigated. Fruits of this plant were found to have important anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. Through isolation techniques, vanillic acid 4-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside, protocateuic acid anhydrite and trivanilloyl-(1,3,4-trihydroxybenzol) ester were determined as the main active components of the fruits. Consequently, S domestica might be a promising candidate for upcoming use the prevention and treatment of various disorders, such as inflammatory bowel diseases, irritable bowel syndrome and Clostridium difficile infection.
