GelNB molecular coating as a biophysical barrier to isolate intestinal irritating metabolites and regulate intestinal microbial homeostasis in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic, immune-mediated inflammatory disease characterized by the destruction of the structure and function of the intestinal epithelial barrier. Due to the poor remission effect and severe adverse events associated with current clinical medications, IBD remains an incurable disease. Here, we demonstrated a novel treatment strategy with high safety and effective inflammation remission via tissue-adhesive molecular coating. The molecular coating is composed of o-nitrobenzaldehyde (NB)-modified Gelatin (GelNB), which can strongly bond with –NH(2) on the intestinal surface of tissue to form a thin biophysical barrier. We found that this molecular coating was able to stay on the surface of the intestine for long periods of time, effectively protecting the damaged intestinal epithelium from irritations of external intestinal metabolites and harmful flora. In addition, our results showed that this coating not only provided a beneficial environment for cell migration and proliferation to promote intestinal repair and regeneration, but also achieved a better outcome of IBD by reducing intestinal inflammation. Moreover, the in vivo experiments showed that the GelNB was better than the classic clinical medication—mesalazine. Therefore, our molecular coating showed potential as a promising strategy for the prevention and treatment of IBD.