{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,24]],"date-time":"2026-10-24T01:12:13Z","timestamp":1792804333900,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,14]],"date-time":"2026-02-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771027200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Jiangsu Basic Research Center for Synthetic Biology","award":["BK20233003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BK20233003"]}]},{"name":"Jiangsu Funding Program for Excellent Postdoctoral Talent","award":["2024ZB779"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024ZB779"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["32402267"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32402267"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100007540","name":"Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Fund","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CX (23)1015"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CX (23)1015"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100007540","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Science and Technology Bureau","award":["2025AB089"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025AB089"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/03hcmxw73","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Foods"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease of unknown etiology, characterized by non-specific colonic inflammation. Licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.), a food\u2013medicine dual-use botanical, exhibits anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory properties, suggesting therapeutic potential for UC. However, the specific bioactive components of licorice and their underlying mechanisms of action require further elucidation. In this study, we investigated the efficacy and mechanisms of licorice flavonoid extract (LF) in a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced murine model of UC. The results demonstrated that oral administration of LF significantly alleviated disease pathology indices, reduced colon shortening, and improved histopathological colon damage. LF treatment suppressed the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, likely through inhibiting the phosphorylation of MAPK and NF-\u03baB p65, while upregulating PPAR\u03b3 expression. Additionally, LF intervention restored gut microbial diversity, increasing the abundance of beneficial taxa such as Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. The chemical characterization of LF revealed that 15 flavonoid compounds contribute to its therapeutic basis. These findings demonstrate that LF mitigates UC via integrated anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, and microbiota-regulating mechanisms, highlighting its potential as a natural therapeutic agent for UC management.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/foods15040716","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,16]],"date-time":"2026-02-16T14:55:47Z","timestamp":1771253747000},"page":"716","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Licorice Flavonoid Extract Ameliorates Intestine Damage in Ulcerative Colitis via MAPK\/NF-\u03baB Signaling Modulation and Gut Microbiome Remodeling"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Xiaoai","family":"Zhu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Food Science and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"},{"name":"Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Binsong","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anqi","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Environmental Science & Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiacen","family":"Bi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Food Science and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenxue","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2488-5491","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuhui","family":"Ye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Feng","family":"Xue","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Food Science and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5702-7480","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cunzheng","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1358","DOI":"10.1136\/gutjnl-2024-334358","article-title":"Challenge of treatment de-escalation in inflammatory bowel diseases","volume":"74","author":"Reenaers","year":"2025","journal-title":"Gut"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1756","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(16)32126-2","article-title":"Ulcerative colitis","volume":"389","author":"Ungaro","year":"2017","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1039","DOI":"10.1136\/gutjnl-2015-310746","article-title":"Fungal microbiota dysbiosis in IBD","volume":"66","author":"Sokol","year":"2017","journal-title":"Gut"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Perler, B.K., Ungaro, R., Baird, G., Mallette, M., Bright, R., Shah, S., Shapiro, J., and Sands, B.E. 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