betaine improves gastroprotective effects of ranitidine and omeprazole against indomethacininduced gastric ulcer in rats

Background and aim: antioxidant capacity of betaine has been indicated in our recent studies. thus, we examined oral betaine as an antioxidant agent in combination with antisecretory drugs to prevent indomethacininduced gastric damages in rats.materials and methods: fiftysix adult male sprague–dawley rats were divided into two controls (negative and normal) and five experimental groups as follows: betaineindomethacin (bet.ind.), ascorbic acidindomethacin (asc.ind.), omeprazoleindomethacin (ome.ind.), betaineomeprazole plus indomethacin (bet.ome.ind.) and betaineranitidine plus indomethacin (bet.ran.ind.).results: the betaine pretreated groups received betaine at a dosage of 1.5% (w/w) in their diet, whereas 50 mg/kg of ascorbic acid was administered orally to the asc.ind., group for 15 consecutive days. after a 24 hour fast, all the groups received 48 mg/kg of indomethacin once except for normal control group. the omeprazole and ranitidine groups also received one dose of omeprazole (10 mg/kg) and ranitidine (50 mg/kg), 120 minutes before receiving indomethacin. histopathological findings indicated the gastroprotective effects of betaine and ranitidine in pretreated rats. pretreatment by betaine and ranitidine increased significantly the ulcer index inhibition (%), in comparison with ascorbic acid and omeprazole (alone) treatment. glutathione peroxidase (gpx) activity was significantly higher in the bet.ran.ind., group as compared to the asc.ind., and ome.ind., treated rats. gpx activity also increased significantly in bet.ind., treated rats as compared to the asc.ind. group. catalase (cat) activity was remarkably higher in the bet.ran.ind., treated rats than the asc.ind., and ome.ind., groups. tbars concentration as a lipid peroxidation marker increased significantly in ome.ind., group as compared to the bet.ind., and bet.ran.ind., treated rats.conclusion: thus, it seems that betaine as an antioxidant agent, is able to improve the effects of ranitidine and omeprazole against indomethacinmediated gastric damages in rats. it may also be promising in the prevention of nsaids side effects.