ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The annual incidence of peptic ulcer disease is estimated to be four million cases worldwide, with an average lifetime risk of 7.5% in individuals of all ages. Polymer nanocomposites have novel prospects in the field of modern medicine. OBJECTIVE: The present research endeavors to assess the therapeutic efficacy of nanoparticles composed of silver/chitosan, silver/saponin, and chitosan/saponin against gastric ulcers induced by ethanol in Wistar rats. METHODS: Forty-eight rats were randomly split into eight groups of the same size. Oral ethanol (5 ml/kg of body weight) was given to all rat groups except the control one for 1 hour before treatment. Control and ulcer groups of rats were given distilled water orally. The rats in the other groups were given orally 1/10 LD50 of each treatment as follows: AgNPs, chitosan NPs, Saponin, AgNPs-Chitosan NPs, AgNP-Saponin, and chitosan-Saponin NPs. RESULTS: NP-treated groups showed a significant increase in the gastric juice pH, glutathione reduced, catalase, and nitric oxide while gastric juice volume, ulcer index, and malondialdehyde levels decreased compared with the ulcer group. Histopathological investigation of stomach showed improvement in NPs groups specially in the chitosan-Saponin NPs group. CONCLUSION: The current study revealed that silver-chitosan, silver-saponin and chitosansaponin nanocomposites effectively treat gastric ulcers. Chitosan-Saponin nanoparticles showed high therapeutic effectiveness against gastric ulcer in rats.
