Efficacy of anti-ulcer drugs on the recovery of gastric mucosal glycoproteins with aspirin-induced gastric damage in rat.

The efficacy of two anti-ulcer drugs, Cimetidine and Cetraxate, on the mucus glycoproteins of gastric mucosa in the aspirin-induced gastric damage was studied in rats. Simultaneous or previous oral administration of Cimetidine or Cetraxate with aspirin reduced the diminution of the mucus glycoproteins which was occurred by aspirin administration. The recovery of the content of mucus glycoprotein in drug dosed rats occurred within 3 h after aspirin dosing and was nearly 90% of control at 5 h in all cases. Single administration of Cetraxate or Cimetidine produced an increase in the mucus glycoprotein content greater than that of the untreated control. Although a macroscopical method for the measurement of gastric damage was applied to this work, neither erosions nor linear ulcers were observed in all cases except the single administration of aspirin. The biochemical method used should be able to assess the efficacy of drugs on the mucosal lesion which cannot be expressed as the ulcer index.