Effects of Bidens pilosa L. var. radiata Scherff on experimental gastric lesion.

Bidens pilosa L. var. radiata Scherff: (BP) is a plant used as a traditional folk medicine. BP, cultivated with only green manure on Miyako Island, Okinawa prefecture, was processed to powder and is referred to as MMBP. We have reported that MMBP has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-allergy properties. In this study, we investigated the effects of MMBP on several experimental gastric lesions induced by HCl/EtOH, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, or cold-restraint stress, comparing these results with those of rutin or anti-ulcerogenic drugs (cimetidine or sucralfate) based on the lesion index and hemorrhage from the gastric lesions. Orally administered MMBP prevented the progression of the gastric lesions. Moreover, treatment with MMBP, rutin, or sucralfate, which had potent antioxidative activity, inhibited increases in the levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in the gastric mucosal lesions. The inhibition of the gastric mucosal TBARS content by MMBP may have been due to the antioxidant effects of MMBP. These results indicate that MMBP prevents the progression of acute gastric mucosal lesions, possibly by suppressing oxidative stress in the gastric mucosa.