AimWe focused on caustic lesions of the esophagus in rat and therapy with the stable gastric pentadecapeptide BPC 157. Caustic lesions of the esophagus are one of the life‐threatening morbidities after ingestion of acid or alkali, as an accidental ingestion affecting mostly children. BPC 157 is an anti‐ulcer peptide, stable in human gastric juice, and shown as a novel mediator of Robert's cytoprotection with the beneficial effect in the whole gastrointestinal tract (Curr Pharm Des. 2017;23(27):4012–4028; Curr Pharm Des. 2014;20(7):1126–35; Curr Pharm Des. 2010;16(10):1224–34). Providing a direct cytoprotective effect of BPC 157 therapy on esophagus as well (Curr Pharm Des. 2010;16(10):1224–34), we assume its beneficial effect when given after caustic substance ingestion.MethodsDeeply anesthetized Albino Wistar rats, 200 g b.w., received directly 0.5 mL of the caustic substance (10% NaOH or 20% HCl respectively) at the proximal part of the esophagus with the free passage to the stomach, and immediately thereafter, BPC 157 10 μg/kg or saline (5 mL/kg) intraperitoneally. Assessment (macro/microscopy), was at the sacrifice, at 1, 2, 5 and 10 minutes. At 1 and 10 minutes, in proximal, middle and distal esophagus tissue samples, oxidative stress assessment was by thiobarbituric acid (TBA) reactivity as malondialdehyde equivalents (MDA). Likewise, at 1 and 10 minutes post‐injury, we determined nitric oxide (NO) levels in proximal, middle and distal esophagus tissue samples using the Griess reaction (Griess Reagent System, Promega, USA).ResultsGross assessment at all time intervals revealed a marked reduction of the lesions induced by both caustics in rats that received BPC 157 therapy. Microscopic examination was along with macroscopic evaluation. Thus, BPC 157‐rats exhibited markedly less damage in the proximal, middle and distal esophagus when challenged with caustics. Of note, in addition to the extensive esophageal caustic lesions, controls exhibited a huge increase of the oxidative stress and NO‐levels following caustic application. By contrast, rats damaged by caustic that subsequently received BPC 157 therapy had markedly less MDA and NO‐tissue level, even close to those values noted in the healthy tissue samples.ConclusionBPC 157 has a cytoprotective effect on the esophagus. Likewise, of particular importance is the evidence that this beneficial effect is obtained when the BPC 157 therapy is given after caustic ingestion. Thus, a practical importance of these findings should be emphasized.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.