Colitis is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that poses a potential threat to animal health and requires effective treatment options. The artemisinic acid (AA), a sesquiterpene compound in alleviating the colitis is least studied. In this study, we investigated the effect of AA on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) induced colitis in mice model. Thirty-seven mice were randomly divided into six groups of negative control (NC), model (DSS), three treatments (L, 0.10mg/g; M, 0.20mg/g; H, 0.40mg/g), and positive control (LH, 0.01mg/g). Each group having six mice except DSS that had seven mice. The results showed that the body weight of all DSS-treated groups decreased significantly (P<0.001) compared to NC group. The colon length of DSS group was shortened significantly compared to NC and H groups (P<0.01). The disease activity index of DSS-treated group was increased significantly compared to NC group (P<0.001) but significantly improved with H, M, and L doses. Histopathological analysis revealed significant improvement in all treatment groups compared to DSS group. Compared with DSS group, the levels of IL-6, IL-10 and IFN-γ in the H, M, and L treatment groups decreased significantly (P<0.001). The DSS-induced colitis resulted in imbalance of gut microbiota in terms of pathogenic species while AA resulted in increase of relative abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus. Thus study concludes that AA has the potential to alleviate colitis by improving intestinal morphology, regulating inflammatory factors, and restoring beneficial intestinal microbiota. Therefore, this compound may offer a promising therapeutic approach to treat colitis in animals.

To Cite This Article: Wang L, Zheng X, Shoaib M, He J, Aqib AI, Guo W, Yan Y, Zhou X, Ahmad S, and Wang S, 2026. Multidimensional evaluation of artemisinic acid against colitis in murine model: integrating microbiota remodeling, histopathological improvement and inflammation regulation. Pak Vet J. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2026.007