Effect of malotilate on ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage in capsaicin-pretreated rats.

We studied the role of afferent sensory neurons in malotilate-mediated gast ric mucosal protection, Intact and capsaicin sensory-denervated rats were u sed in the experiments, Gross gastric mucosal injury was assessed and evalu ated as a main criterion of the gastroprotective effect of the tested subst ances. Besides malotilate, methyl-prostaglandin E-2 was applied alone or in combination with malotilate to compare the effects and the mechanism of ac tion of both substances. The results revealed that both malotilate as well as methyl-prostaglandin E-2 exerted a significant protective action on 96 % ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage, However, there were no significant differences between intact and capsaicin-denervated rats. Only the use of 50 % ethanol as a milder mucosal irritating agent resulted in significant d ifferences in both groups of animals. We propose that malotilate (like meth yl-prostaglandin E-2) has a gastroprotective effect on ethanol-induced gast ric mucosal injury. This effect is partly dependent on the sensory nervous system and the combination of both above substances has an additive effect.