Carbon nanotubes provide longer lasting gastroprotective effects for anandamide in stressinduced gastric ulcer in rat

Introduction: anandamide (aea) has shown a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities including the effects against the peptic ulcer, meanwhile, the poor solubility or short half-life may negatively affect the effectiveness of this valuable cannabinoid. based on the superior properties of carbon nanotubes (cnts) for controlled drug delivery, we aimed to prepare aea-cnts complex and evaluate its therapeutic potential in an experimental model of gastric ulcer. methods: amino-functionalized multi-walled cnts-aea (mwcnts-aea) complex was prepared using cooh-mwcnts and then characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. gastric ulcer was induced by water immersion and restrain stress (wrs) for 3.5 and 6 h in rats and the gastric lesion and oxidative stress were evaluated. results: aea at higher doses reduced the gastric ulcer area and malondialdehyde content and elevated glutathione level and superoxide dismutase and catalase activities after 3.5-h wrs but it was ineffective after 6-h wrs. mwcnts-aea complex showed therapeutic effects after both 3.5- and 6-h wrs. conclusion: aminated mwcnts are suitable carriers for aea as they provide longer lasting effects for this cannabinoid. the antioxidant mechanism may be involved in the gastroprotective effects of mwcnts-aea complex.