Altered susceptibility of arthritic rats to the gastric lesion-inducing effects of aspirin or ethanol and the antilesion effect of rioprostil.

It is well known that nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents produce gastric mucosal lesions in both laboratory animals and man. However, the effect of an arthritic condition on their susceptibility to ulcerogenic agents and on the efficacy of antiulcer agents is less definitive. As a model to explore these questions, the effect of oral administration of aspirin or ethanol on gastric lesion formation was examined in rats with or without established adjuvant-induced polyarthritis. In addition, the antilesion efficacy of rioprostil, a primary alcohol prostaglandin E1 analog, was evaluated in both groups of rats. The results demonstrated that arthritic rats were more sensitive to the lesion-inducing effect of aspirin, but were more resistant to the lesion-inducing effect of ethanol when compared to normal rats. An increase in endogenous gastric prostaglandin production in arthritic rats may account for their relative resistance to ethanol. Aspirin inhibited the prostaglandin synthetic capacity of the stomach in both normal and arthritic rats, which may be responsible for eliminating the relative resistance of arthritic rats to gastric irritation. Rioprostil effectively prevented aspirin or ethanol-induced lesion formation in both arthritic and nonarthritic rats, but its potency against either irritant was decreased in arthritic rats.