Gastroprotective effect of plumbagin and ethanolic extract of plumbaginales in experimentally-induced ulcer

Introduction: medicinal plants with phenolic compounds have been shown to have antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. the objective of the study was to evaluate the anti-ulcer effects of ethanolic extracts of plumbaginales namely p. auriculata, p. indica and p. zeylanica and plumbagin in aspirin and ethanol induced gastric ulcer models.methods: in vivo studies including dpph scavenging assay, lipid peroxidase inhibition assay, acid neutralizing capacity test, aspirin- and ethanol-induced ulcer models were performed to assess the antioxidant and antiulcer effects of plants. by using the models of aspirin (200 mg/kg, 1 hour after the administration of last dose of the extract/ranitidine) and ethanol (1 ml/200 g, 90%) induced ulcer, animals were randomly divided into three groups of six animals each. group i served as positive control, group ii acted as standard and received ranitidine (20 mg/kg). the group iii was treated with ethanolic extract by oral route in a dose of 300 mg/kg for a period of 5 days. the animals were sacrificed and the stomach was then excised and cut along the greater curvature, washed carefully with 5.0 ml of 0.9% nacl and ulcers were scored.results: both the aspirin- and ethanol-induced models of ulcer with various extracts of plumbaginales showed significant acid neutralizing and antioxidant properties.conclusion: this study suggests that root extracts of p. auriculata may have good quality potentials for use in peptic ulcer diseases and that p. auriculata possesses an antiulcer effect.