Abstract
Alcohol consumption increases the risk of gastritis and gastric ulcer. Nutritional alternatives are considered for relieving the progression of gastric mucosal lesions instead of conventional drugs that produce side effects. This study was designed to evaluate the gastroprotective effects and investigate the defensive mechanisms of wheat peptides against ethanol-induced acute gastric mucosal injury in rats. Sixty male Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into six groups and orally treated with wheat peptides (0.1, 0.2, 0.4 g/kgbw) and omeprazole (20 mg/kgbw) for 4 weeks, following absolute ethanol administration for 1 h. Pretreatment with wheat peptides obviously enhanced the vasodilation of gastric mucosal blood vessels via improving the gastric mucosal blood flow and elevating the defensive factors nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and lowering the level of vasoconstrictor factor endothelin (ET)-1. Wheat peptides exhibited anti-inflammatory reaction through decreasing inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and increasing trefoil factor 1 (TFF1) levels. Moreover, wheat peptides significantly down-regulated the expression of phosphorylated nuclear factor kappa-B (p-NF-κB) p65 proteins in the NF-κB signaling pathway. Altogether, wheat peptides protect gastric mucosa from ethanol-induced lesions in rats via improving the gastric microcirculation and inhibiting inflammation mediated by the NF-κB signaling transduction pathway.
Highlights
The destruction of gastric mucosal integrity is a result of an imbalance between defensive factors (mucus, bicarbonate, nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandins, and gastric mucosal blood flow) and the aggressive factors [1]
Ethanol intake could destroy the integrity of gastric mucosal surface through lowering gastric mucosal blood flow, which is associated with reductions in major endogenous defensive factors for NO and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) [9,10,11]
The present study showed that pretreatment with wheat peptides remarkably declined the pro-inflammatory cytokines production in a rat model of ethanol-induced gastric lesions, speculating that the potential gastroprotective effects of wheat peptides may be related to its anti-inflammatory activity
Summary
The destruction of gastric mucosal integrity is a result of an imbalance between defensive factors (mucus, bicarbonate, nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandins, and gastric mucosal blood flow) and the aggressive factors (hydrochloric acid and pepsin) [1]. Injurious agents such as Helicobacter pylori, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), alcohol abuse, and stress are the main factors responsible for gastric mucosal lesions creating fall in gastric mucosal blood flow and an impairment of mucosal defensive mechanisms [2,3]. Activated NF-κB stimulates multiple downstream effectors of inflammatory mediators such as enzymes for inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6, which in turn may magnify gastric damage after ethanol exposure [12,13]
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