Plaunotol prevents the progression of acute gastric mucosal lesions induced by compound 48/80, a mast cell degranulator, in rats.

We examined the preventive effect of plaunotol, an antiulcer drug, on acute gastric mucosal lesion progression in rats treated once with compound 48/80 (C48/80). Rats treated with C48/80 (0.75 mg/kg BW, i.p.) received plaunotol (10, 25 or 50 mg/kg BW, p.o.) 0.5 h after the treatment at which time gastric mucosal lesions appeared. The gastric mucosa of C48/80-treated rats showed progressed lesions and had increased myeloperoxidase (an index of neutrophil infiltration) activity and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (an index of lipid peroxidation) content and decreased ascorbic acid and adherent mucus contents and Se-glutathione peroxidase activity at 3 h after C48/80 treatment. Postadministered plaunotol attenuated all these changes dose-dependently. These attenuating effects of plaunotol were not counteracted by pretreatment with indomethacin (5 mg/kg BW, i.p.), a prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor. These results indicate that plaunotol prevents the progression of C48/80-induced acute gastric mucosal lesions in rats possibly by its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions, but not by affecting gastric mucosal prostaglandin levels.