Effect of Sodium Ferulate on Human Colonic Anion Secretion and the Underlying Signaling Mechanism

The present study investigated the effect of ferulic acid, a compound purified from traditional Chinese herbal medicine Chuanxiong and Awei, on anion secretion by human colonic cells (T84) using the short circuit current (ISC) and microspectrofluorimetric technique. Basolateral administration of sodium ferulate (SF) produced a concentration-dependent increase of ISC in T84 cells with an EC50 of 1.2 mM. The SF-induced increase in ISC contained a transient peak followed by a sustained plateau. Removal of extracellular Cl−, basolateral addition of bumetanide, an inhibitor of the Na+–K+–Cl− cotransporter (NKCC) and apical pretreatment with DPC, a Cl− channels blocker, decreased the SF-induced increase in ISC by 94% (p