OMEPRAZOLE, NITRENDIPINE, FAMOTIDINE AND STRESS-INDUCED ULCERS

Background: Omeprazole inhibits gastric acid secretion bq blocking the proton pump of the gastric parietal cell, Nitrendipine is a derivativ e of the dihydropyridine group of calcium channel blockers and adminis trated for angina and hypertension, Famotidine is one of the newer his tamine H-2-receptor antagonists and heals gastric and duodenal ulcers by reducing gastric acid output, Objectives: The healing effects of om eprazole, nitrendipine and famotidine on stress-induced gastric ulcers were investigated in rats, Methods: Forty male Wistar-albino rats wer e separated into five groups (n = 8), a control (non-stress) and four experimental (stress) groups, Experimental rats were treated with omep razole, nitrendipine, famotidine or a placebo after the stresses of st arvation and coId-restraint, Result: Macroscopically, the mean area of the affected lesional mucosa was 1/4 of the total gastric mucosa in t he famotidine treated group and 1/5 of the total gastric mucosa in the nitrendipine treated group. A considerably decrease was observed in t he omeprazole treated group in which the mean area of the lesional muc osa was only in 1/8 of the total gastric mucosa, On microscopic examin ation, congestive vessels and chronic inflammatory cell infiltrates we re significantly reduced in the omeprazole treated group, Tissue regen eration was more prominent in the omeprazole group than the other grou ps, Conclusion: Omeprazole was found to Ire superior in terms of the e ffect on the healing process to nitrendipine and famotidine. Although therapeutic effects of nitrendipine and famotidine were observed, thos e were less than omeprazole.