Abstract
Gastric ulcer is the most digestive disease found in clinical practice. Punicalagin (PCG) found in pomegranate juice has antioxidant and tissue repair properties. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate punicalagin’s gastroprotective effect against ethanol-induce gastric injury. Four groups of rats; first group served as control, group 2: Treated with absolute ethanol (5 ml/kg, po), group 3: Rats were pre-treated with ranitidine (as a reference drug) (50 mg/kg, po) before ethanol and group 4: Pre-treated with PCG (4 mg/kg, po) before ethanol. Pretreatment with PCG reduced ulcer index and histopathological changes, oxidative stress induced by ethanol while it elevated antioxidant activity. Although, it down regulated Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF-α) gene expression and mucosal levels of inflammatory cytokines; TNF-α, Interleukin (IL-1β) and Interferon Gamma (IFNγ), it up regulated mucosal level of IL-10. Also, it reduced mucosal Nuclear Factor Kappa B (NFκB) protein expression, mylopeoxidase and caspase 3 activities as well as gene expression of caspase 9 while it elevated antiapoptotic B-Cell Lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) gene expression, mucosal nitric oxide and mucin content. However, it had negative action on prostaglandin E2 and acid secretions. These findings indicate gastroprotective effects of punicalagin against ethanol induced gastric ulcer through suppression of mucosal oxidative stress and inflammation through NFκB pathway as well cytoprotective defences independent on prostaglandin E2 and acid secretions.
Highlights
Gastric ulcer occurs mainly due to the imbalance between the destructive and protective factors to the mucosal barrier.Adult male Wistar albino rats weighing 170-200 g were placed in polyethylene cages in groups of 6 and the experiment was performed under controlled laboratory conditioning where food and water were provided ad libitum
Gastric mucosa of the second set were scratched and soaked in 100% ethanol and 0.1 M indomethacin homogenized and centrifuged at 12,000 × g for 10 min and the level of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) were assessed using a commercially available ELISA kit according to manufacturer's instructions (Cayman, Ann Arbor, MI, USA)
Pre-treatment with PCG or Ran produced preventive index 74.9% and 79% of ethanol induced gastric ulcer, respectively with no significant difference between pre-treatment with PCG and reference drug Ran (Table 1) as well histopathological results confirmed the ability of PCG to recover ethanol-induce gastric ulcer in the gastric mucosa (Figure 1A)
Summary
Gastric ulcer occurs mainly due to the imbalance between the destructive and protective factors to the mucosal barrier. Adult male Wistar albino rats weighing 170-200 g were placed in polyethylene cages in groups of 6 and the experiment was performed under controlled laboratory conditioning where food and water were provided ad libitum. Handling and procedures were carried out according to the. © Copyright iMedPub | This article is available from: http://biomarkers.imedpub.com/archive.php. Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals published by the US National Institute of Health (NIH publication No 85-23, revised 1996). The experimental protocols were approved by the institutional research ethics committee at Faculty of pharmacy, Damanhur University. Punicalagin and ranitidine hydrochloride (Sigma Chemical Co., MO, USA) was dissolved in distil waster. All other chemicals used were of good quality and analytical grade
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