TRANSENDOSCOPIC ELECTROCAUTERY-INDUCED GASTRIC-ULCERS AS A MODEL FOR GASTRIC HEALING STUDIES IN PONIES

The ponies were apparently healthy and 6-20 months of age. In Study 1, gastric lesions were created by transendoscopic electrocautery in the non-glandular gastric mucosa, adjacent to the margo plicatus in 9 pon ies which were then treated with water, 12 mg cimetidine HCl/kg bwt or 18 mg cimetidine HCI/kg bwt per os every 12 h for 35 days. In Study 2 , gastric lesions were similarly induced in 9 ponies in the non-glandu lar mucosa and also in the glandular mucosa just below the non-glandul ar lesion on the greater curvature of the stomach. The ponies were tre ated with water, 8 mg cimetidine/kg bwt or 16 mg cimetidine/kg bwt per os every 8 h for 21 days. In both studies gastric lesion healing was monitored twice weekly by video gastroscopy. There was no apparent dif ference in healing times between the water and cimetidine treatment gr oups in either study. These results indicate that uniform gastric ulce rs can be created by transendoscopic electrocautery in the nonglandula r mucosa of ponies and that these ulcers heal at a predictable rate wh ich should be useful in studying compounds that might accelerate heali ng of gastric mucosal lesions. However, cimetidine was not effective i n accelerating the rate of healing under the conditions of this study.