Protein hydrolysates from animal source food earthworm protect against dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced intestinal barrier injury

• The earthworm is easily found in moist soil in every part of the earth and plays significant role in soil structure and organic matters. In addition to its attribute of animal source food, earthworm has been well recognized for its medicinal benefits because it is a plentiful supply of proteins, peptides, enzymes, and bioactive compounds.

• In this study, we hydrolyzed the crude earthworm protein extract and identified that almost all the peptides (earthworm protein hydrolysates, EWPH) generated by hydrolysis have their molecular weight less than 3000 Dalton. prediction in terms of network pharmacology and bioinformatics analysis suggested that the EWPH have the potential of anti-inflammation and anti-oxidation.

• On the basis of the above data, we explored whether EWPH effectively alleviate DSS-induced inflammatory bowel disease, a disease characterized by intestinal inflammation and excessive oxidative stress. Interestingly, treatment with EWPH led to predominant recovery of epithelial TJ protein production, downregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress. More importantly, the in vivo tests confirmed the predicted targets responsible for EWPH administration on inflamed intestine, such as SRC, STAT3, Caspase-3, and MMP9. Therefore, this study highlights a clear clue that EWPH safeguard intestinal barrier hemostasis. More importantly, given that the earthworms are easily founded and are sustainable on earth, our findings broaden the application of earthworm serving as a donor of protectant on intestinal barrier hemostasis and provide a clue to the development of earthworm-based nutraceuticals processing.