According to a study published in Frontiers in Pharmacology, researchers investigated whether myrrh could protect the gut lining from inflammation-driven damage linked to ulcerative colitis.

The experiment used human-derived intestinal epithelial cells (HT-29/B6) exposed to IL-13, an inflammatory cytokine known to weaken the intestinal barrier and cause “leaky gut.” IL-13 significantly reduced barrier integrity, but when myrrh was added, barrier function was fully restored, measured by transepithelial electrical resistance—an objective marker of gut lining strength.

Myrrh worked by directly counteracting the molecular damage caused by IL-13. It suppressed overexpression of claudin-2 (a pore-forming tight junction protein), corrected mislocalization of tricellulin at tight junctions, and reduced inflammation-induced cell death. 

These effects were traced to inhibition of the STAT3 and STAT6 inflammatory signaling pathways. The study demonstrates that myrrh can stabilize and repair the gut barrier at a cellular level, providing mechanistic support for its potential role in inflammatory bowel conditions—based on human cell models, not patient trials.

PMID: 38044939