Hm. Shin, Anti-oxidative herbs and indomethacin-induced rat gastric mucosal lesions:Protection by GamiHyangsa-Yukgunja, AM J CHIN M, 29(1), 2001, pp. 101-109
This study investigates the protective effects of GamiHyangsa-Yukgunja (GHY
, a popular herbal medicine formula) on indomethacin-induced gastric mucosa
l lesions and morphological change in rats. Subcutaneous injection of indom
ethacin (25 mg/kg) produced the following gastric morphological alterations
: mucosa hemorrhagic infarct, mucosa cell necrosis, leukocyte infiltration,
mucosa hemorrhagic erosion, and gastric pit disappearance. Tissue damages
were accompanied by increased oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, and dec
reases in superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) activities, and gl
utathione (GSH) concentrations. Our results show that pretreatment of the r
ats with orally administered GHY extract (3.3 ml/kg/day) significantly redu
ced gastric lesion formation and caused the amelioration of several patholo
gical changes in the above-mentioned gastric mucosal lesions. Concomitantly
, GHY-pretreatment increased gastric mucosal SOD and CAT activities and GSH
concentrations. We therefore propose that GHY exerts a prophylactic effect
on the indomethacin-induced gastric mucosal lesions by enhancing antioxida
nt defense systems.