a better understanding of the present invention may be obtained through the following examples which are set forth to illustrate , but are not to be construed as limiting the present invention . compositions were prepared as shown in table 1 below . for comparison in terms of therapeutic effect and side effect , rebamipide , a conventional therapeutic agent for colitis , was employed as a control . in this experiment , c57bl6 mice were employed for the following reasons . the experimental animals are widely used throughout the world and are evaluated as being suitable for validity assays . in addition , because a great amount of fundamental test data on various disease models of the animals has been accumulated , the data can be utilized in analyzing and assessing test results . when purchased from orientbio inc . the experimental animals weighed 18 g ± 20 %. they were bred under a light intensity of 150 ˜ 300 lux in the controlled condition of 12 : 12 - h light - dark cycles , with at least 10 ventilation rounds per hour . when starting the experiment , the mice in each group weighed , on average : 20 . 8 ± 1 . 4 g for g1 ; 21 . 0 ± 0 . 5 g for g2 ; 20 . 9 ± 1 . 5 g for g3 ; 20 . 2 ± 0 . 9 g for g4 ; 20 . 7 ± 1 . 1 g for g5 ; 20 . 5 ± 0 . 9 g for g6 ; and 20 . 7 ± 0 . 7 g for g7 , with no significant difference between groups . for use in testing therapeutic effects of the agents of examples , comparative examples , and control examples , the mice ( g1 to g7 ) were fed with a 2 . 5 wt % aqueous dextran sodium sulfate ( dss ) solution to induce inflammatory bowel disease therein . on the day of induction of inflammatory bowel disease , no animals were dead or in a critical condition . the mice were pre - treated with compositions of example 1 , comparative example , and control example as shown in table 2 , and a couple of weeks after the starting of the pre - treatment , dss was used to induce colitis in the animal models . from jan . 12 , 2012 , the mice were allowed to drink an aqueous dss 2 . 5 wt % solution for 7 days . dss - induced diarrhea or hematochezia caused mice in groups g2 to g7 to lose weight , as compared at the point of dss treatment . after 7 days of dss drinking , the mice were sacrificed in an ether anesthetized condition , and the colon was excised . the colons from g2 to g7 were observed to have inflammation as a result of dss - induced diarrhea or hematochezia , as shown in fig2 . at the end of the test , disease activity index ( dai ) scores were made in consideration of the degree of hematochezia and diarrhea , and are depicted in fig3 . in addition , the overall colon length from the cecum to the end of the colon was measured , and the result is shown in fig4 . in the graph , # represents significance ( p & lt ; 0 . 0001 ) compared to the normal ( g1 ), and * represents significance ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 ), compared to the colitis animal model . as understood from the data of fig3 , the inflammatory bowel disease induced by dss caused a clinical sign change such as diarrhea and hematochezia due to the inflammation in the colon mucosa , increasing the dai score whereas treatment with the composition of the present invention relieved the inflammation of the colon mucosa to mitigate diarrhea and hematochezia , thus allowing mice in g3 to g6 to score low in dai . in addition , as shown in fig4 , dss - induced colitis made the colon shorter , compared to the normal group . treatment of the composition of the present invention recovered the colon length , as pointed out in g3 to g6 compared to comparative example , with statistical significance . the compositions of the present invention ( g3 to g6 ) were found to have therapeutic effects equivalent to or higher than those of the conventional agent ( g7 ). colon specimens taken were fixed in a 10 % formalin solution and stained with hematoxylin & amp ; eosin ( h & amp ; e stain ), and their images are given in fig5 . further , they were evaluated through a blind test under the criteria of a total of six histopathological opinions on inflammation ( inflammation , follicle aggregation , oedema , erosion / ulceration , crypt loss , and infiltration of mono - and polymorphonuclear cells ), and scored . total pathologic scores obtained by summing up scores for each items and for the six opinions are depicted in fig6 . as apparent from the data of fig5 and 6 , the h & amp ; e staining assays of colon mucosal tissues show that intestinal mucosa tissues in which inflammation induced by dss underwent a histopathological change due to inflammation , follicle aggregation , and oedema , and were deviated from the normal histological pattern . the treatment of g3 to g6 recovered the intestinal mucosa tissues to a normal state . based on these results , histopathological evaluations were made , and depicted , indicating that higher pathologic scores were obtained in dss - treated groups than the normal group while the treatment of g3 to g6 lowered the pathologic score . the composition of the present invention was found to have a therapeutic effect equivalent to or higher than that of the control g7 . levels of il - 1β il - 6 , il - 12 , and tnf - α , which are representative inflammation - inducing cytokines , were measured . dss - induced ibd groups were discovered to significantly increase in the expression of the inflammatory cytokines , and the expression level was significantly reduced by treatment with the composition of the present invention as in g3 to g6 . the observation results are depicted in fig5 . data of fig7 and 10 show that dss - induced inflammation promoted the expression of the inflammatory cytokines il - 113 ( fig7 ), il - 6 ( fig8 ), tnf - α ( fig9 ), and il - 12 ( fig1 ), losing the function of the intestinal mucosa membrane , as demonstrated by h & amp ; e staining assay of fig4 , which resulted in a lesion phenomenon such as diarrhea and hematochezia . treatment with the composition of the present invention as in g3 to g6 decreased expression levels of the inflammatory cytokines , which , in turn , rehabilitated the injured mucosal tissues to normal tissues , with equivalency to the control g7 . malondialdehyde ( mda ), accounting for the degree of lipid peroxidation , a representative marker of oxidation stress , was quantified . its amount was discovered to decrease at a low concentration of s - allyl - l - cysteine as in g3 and g4 , with statistical significance . consistent with this result , an increase in antioxidant concentration was detected in g3 , compared to the dss - treated group , as measured for total antioxidant concentrations in tissues . these results are shown in fig1 ( mda concentration ) and 11 ( total antioxidant concentration ). as is understood from the data of fig1 and 11 , dss - induced oxidative stress increased the level of mda ( malodialdehyde ), a marker for lipid peroxidation , compared to the normal group . the increased level of lipid peroxidation induced inflammation in intestinal mucosal membranes , as confirmed by the h & amp ; e staining assay of fig5 , resulting in a functional loss of the mucosal membrane . treatment of g3 to g6 decreased the level of mda , accounting for a reduction in oxidative stress - induced inflammation . as such , the affected tissues were rehabilitated to normal mucosal tissues , with equivalency or superiority to the control g7 . particularly , the therapeutic effect peaked in the g3 group , which seemed to result from the highest intracellular antioxidant level . in addition , as evaluated by the total pathologic score of fig6 , the g3 group showed the best rehabilitation of mucosal tissues . cox - 2 , a representative inflammatory enzyme , significantly increased in expression level in the group g2 and g3 . the expression level was observed to significantly decrease in the other test groups . in spite of many rounds thereof , western blotting failed to obtain apparent results . the immunofluorescence of cox - 2 was performed on paraffin unstained slides of animal tissues . in all of the groups , the dss - induced cox - 2 expression was found to be suppressed . these results are shown in fig1 ( cox - 2 ( green ), dapi ( blue ), and merged image ). as can be seen in fig1 , the expression level of cox - 2 , a representative marker of inflammation , was significantly increased in mucosal tissues of the colon where inflammation was elicited by dss - induced oxidative stress , compared to the normal group . the cox - 2 expression induced inflammation , as demonstrated by the h & amp ; e staining assay of fig4 , resulting in a functional loss of the mucosal membrane . treatment of g3 to g6 reduced cox - 2 expression levels in mucosal tissues , which , in turn , alleviated the oxidative stress - induced inflammation , thus rehabilitating the mucosal tissues to a normal state , with an equivalent or superior effect to that of the control g7 . the control g7 inhibited cox - 2 expression in mucosal tissues , but did not effectively do so in the fascial tissue beneath the mucosal tissue , whereas g4 to g6 inhibited cox - 2 expression even in the fascial tissue . cyclosporine or prednisolone , which are both steroids used to treat colitis thanks to their immunosuppressive effects , are reported to have the side effect of weight gain . however , none of the mice in the test groups g3 to g6 , which were administered with the composition of example 1 containing s - allyl - l - cystein as an active ingredient , were found to gain weight . thus , the composition of the present invention is proven to not cause the side effect of weight gain . the anti - inflammatory agents including mesalizine or mesalazine , nsaids , etc . are known to cause various side effects such as hypersensitive reactions , nausea , vomiting , headache , etc . over an extended test period of 12 weeks , g3 to g6 , which were treated with s - allyl - l - cysteine , did not suffer from the side effects detected in the control g7 treated with mesalazine . these ingredients were well mixed , loaded to a polyethylene - coated sac , and sealed to give powders . the ingredients were mixed and loaded to gelatin hard capsules using a typical procedure to afford capsules . these ingredients were mixed and formulated into a suspension using a typical method . the suspension was loaded to a 100 ml brown bottle , and sterilized . polyethylene glycol and conc . glycerin were mixed together , and then pure water was added . this mixture was maintained at about 60 ° c . and homogeneously mixed with flavones by stirring at about 1 , 500 rpm in a stirrer . while slowly stirring , the resulting homogeneous mixture was cooled to room temperature , and degassed using a vacuum pump to give a soft capsule formulation . using a typical method , a soft capsule shell was prepared from 132 mg of gelatin , 52 mg of conc . glycerin , 6 mg of 70 % disorbitol solution , and a suitable amount of ethyl vanillin as an aromatic , while carnauba wax was used as a coating base . these ingredients were employed in the amounts per ampoule to give an injection using a typical method . pure water was added to these ingredients to form a total of 100 ml , and the solution was mixed to give a beverage using a typical method . although the preferred embodiment ( s ) of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes , those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications , additions , and substitutions are possible , without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims . as described hitherto , the composition comprising s - allyl - l - cysteine as an active ingredient is useful in preventing or treating colitis , and the use of the composition finds applications in various industries .
the present invention relates to a composition for preventing or treating colitis . according to one embodiment of the present invention , the composition for preventing or treating colitis comprises s - allyl - l - cysteine , a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof , or a solvate or hydrate of the same as an active ingredient , and exhibits an anti - inflammatory action in colitis . the composition for preventing or treating colitis has outstanding effects in preventing and alleviating colitis due to the effect of the anti - inflammatory action and the effect of an antioxidant action of s - allyl - l - cysteine , while at the same time s - allyl - l - cysteine is not accompanied by side - effects , therefore , has a wide scope of use against colitis .