Abstract

Verbena bonnariensis protects the gastric mucosa of gastric ulcer in rats

Author(s): Vijai Lakshmi, Abbas Ali Mahdi, Vaibhav Mishra, Gaurav Mishra, Haushila Prasad Pandey, Gautam Palit, Santosh Kumar Agarwal

Verbena bonnariensis is concerned in sustaining the gastric mucosal integrity in gastric ulcer disease. However, the role of V. bonnariensis is not clear in this activity. The present study was designed to explore the effects of V. bonnariensis on gastric mucosal damage following gastric ulcer disease In this study, the gastroprotective mechanismof V. bonnariensis was investigated. The extract and fractions of this plant were evaluated against cold restraint (CRU), aspirin (AS), alcohol (AL) and pyloric ligation (PL) induced gastric ulcermodels in rats. Potential anti-ulcer activity of V. bonnariensis was observed against CRU (50.00%),AS (37.50%),AL (69.50%), and PL (50.00%) induced ulcer models. The standard drug omeprazole (10mg/kg, p.o.) showed 77.34%protection againstCRU, 58.50% against AS and 69.42% against PL induced ulcer model. Sucralfate, another standard drug (500 mg/kg, p.o.) showed 62.50% protection in AL induced ulcer model. It significantly reduced free acidity (23.15%), total acidity (10.59%) and upregulated mucin secretion by 40.86%respectively. Conclusively, V. bonnariensis was found to posses anti-ulcerogenic activity which might be due to its anti-secretory activity and subsequent strengthening of the defensive mechanism. This study is the first of its kind to show significant anti-ulcer effect of V. bonnariensis. Therefore it could act as a potent therapeutic agent against peptic ulcer disease.