ABSTRACT
The effect of lupeol, a natural pentacyclic triterpene on ethanol-induced gastric damage in mice was evaluated. The gastroprotection was assessed by determination of changes in mean gastric lesion area, quantification of mucosal non-protein sulfhydryls (NP-SH), and characterized using drugs that influence the endogenous prostaglandins, alpha(2)-adrenoceptors, nitric oxide, K(ATP)-channels, and intracellular calcium. Orally administered lupeol (3, 10, and 30 mg/kg) significantly and dose-dependently attenuated the ethanol-induced gastric damage by 39-69%, whereas the positive control N-acetylcysteine (NAC, 300 mg/kg, i.p.) afforded 32% protection. Both lupeol and NAC restored the NP-SH depleted by ethanol but the lupeol effect was only marginal. Lupeol gastroprotection was attenuated by indomethacin and L-NAME, the respective COX and NO-synthase inhibitors and was weakly sensitive to alpha(2)-adrenergic antagonist yohimbine and K(ATP)-channel blocker glibenclamide, but more profoundly to calcium blocker verapamil. These pharmacological effects of lupeol may synergistically contribute to alleviating the ethanol-associated gastric damage, which is multifactorial.
Subject(s)
Anti-Inflammatory Agents/pharmacology , Ethanol/toxicity , Gastric Mucosa/drug effects , Triterpenes/pharmacology , Acetylcysteine/pharmacology , Animals , Anti-Inflammatory Agents/administration & dosage , Calcium/metabolism , Central Nervous System Depressants/toxicity , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Gastric Mucosa/pathology , KATP Channels/drug effects , KATP Channels/metabolism , Male , Mice , Nitric Oxide/metabolism , Pentacyclic Triterpenes , Prostaglandins/metabolism , Rats , Rats, Wistar , Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha-2/drug effects , Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha-2/metabolism , Sulfhydryl Compounds/metabolism , Triterpenes/administration & dosageABSTRACT
In search of novel gastroprotective agents, mangiferin, a naturally occurring glucosylxanthone from Mangifera indica L. (Anacardiaceae), was evaluated in mice on gastric injury induced by ethanol and indomethacin. The effects of mangiferin on gastric mucosal damage were assessed by determination of changes in mean gastric lesion area or ulcer score in mice and on gastric secretory volume and total acidity in 4-h pylorus-ligated rats. Mangiferin (3, 10 and 30 mg/kg, P. O.) significantly attenuated the gastric damage induced by ethanol by 30, 35, and 63 %, and of indomethacin by 22, 23 and 57 %, respectively. N-Acetylcysteine (750 mg/kg, I. P.) and lansoprazole (30 mg/kg, P. O.) used as positive controls in these ulcerogenic models resulted in 50 % and 76 % suppression of gastric injury, respectively. In 4-h pylorus-ligated rats, intraduodenally applied mangiferin (30 mg/kg) caused significant diminutions in gastric secretory volume and total acidity. In addition, like N-acetylcysteine, a donor of sulfhydryls, mangiferin effectively prevented the ethanol-associated depletion of gastric mucosal non-protein sulfhydryl content in mice, suggesting an antioxidant action. These findings provide evidence that mangiferin affords gastroprotection against gastric injury induced by ethanol and indomethacin most possibly through the antisecretory and antioxidant mechanisms of action.
