SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1639644
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovations in targeting intestinal immunity for chronic inflammatory disordersView all articles
Preclinical evidence for luteolin in ulcerative colitis: a meta-analysis and systematic review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Zhejiang University School of Medicine Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hangzhou, China
- 2Department of Gastroenterology, Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
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Background: Evidence suggests that luteolin (LUT) may offer therapeutic potential in treating ulcerative colitis (UC), though its specific pharmacological mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This meta-analysis aims to assess the pharmacological effects of LUT in UC animal models and investigate its potential mechanisms of action.Methods: A comprehensive search of five databases, namely PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, EBSCO, and ScienceDirect, was conducted to identify studies investigating the effects of LUT on UC. The search, covering data up to March 2025, yielded 19 eligible studies involving a total of 327 animal subjects. The outcomes were analyzed using the standard mean difference with a 95% confidence interval in R (4.3.3) software.The meta-analysis revealed that LUT significantly ameliorated colon length, reduced the disease activity index, alleviated body weight loss, and decreased histological scores. Further mechanistic analysis indicated that LUT exerts its effects through multiple mechanisms, including the reduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines, elevation of anti-inflammatory cytokines, promotion of tight junction protein expression, and improvement of oxidative stress-related indices. However, LUT appears to have no significant impact on the α-diversity of the intestinal microbiota.This study suggests that LUT may exert significant therapeutic effects in UC animal models through antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and barrier-protective mechanisms. Further clinical studies and translational research are essential to bridge the gap between animal models and human applications.
Keywords: Luteolin, ulcerative colitis, Systematic review, meta analysis, animal model
Received: 18 Jun 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Feng, Lu, Guo, Mo and Xv. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yichuan Xv, Department of Gastroenterology, Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
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