Protection against alcohol-induced gastric mucosal injury by nitecapone.

1. The mechanism of gastric mucosal protection by an anticular agent, nitecapone, against injury was investigated in rats with and without indomethacin pretreatment. 2. Animals received intragastrically either a dose of nitecapone or vehicle alone, followed by ethanol given at various intervals up to 5 hr, and their gastric mucosa subjected to histologic and physicochemical assessment. 3. Ethanol caused extensive gastric hemorrhagic lesions which were essentially prevented by nitecapone at doses of 30 mg and higher per kg body weight. The maximal protection was achieved by 1.5 hr which persisted up to 4 hr and was not thwarted by indomethacin. 4. Physicochemical measurements revealed that nitecapone evoked 78% increase in mucus gel dimension, and showed 21% increase in phospholipids, and the content of sulfo-(22%) and sialomucins (72%). This was accompanied by 1.6-fold increase in mucus viscosity, 31% increase in H+ retardation capacity and 2.2-fold increase in hydrophobicity. 5. The results suggest that the gastroprotective action of nitecapone occurs through the enhancement of the physicochemical characteristics of mucus layer.