Anti-oxidative herbs and indomethacin-induced rat gastric mucosal lesions: protection by GamiHyangsa-Yukgunja

This study investigates the protective effects of GamiHyangsa-Yukgunja (GHY, a popular herbal medicine formula) on indomethacin-induced gastric mucosal lesions and morphological change in rats. Subcutaneous injection of indomethacin (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 decreases in superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) activities, and glutathione (GSH) concentrations. Our results show that pretreatment of the rats with orally administered GHY extract (3.3 ml/kg/day) significantly reduced gastric lesion formation and caused the amelioration of several pathological 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 antioxidant defense systems.