anti-ulcer effect of tripleurospermum disciforme (c.a. mey) shultz bip on pylorus ligated (shay) rats

gastric ulcer is one of the most prevalent gastrointestinal (gi) disorders, which affects approximately 5-10% of people during their life. in recent years, plentiful works have been carried out on herbal medicine to clarify their potential efficacy in gastric ulcer prevention or management. tripleuro-spermum disciforme is one of the indigenous plants that is readily available and has been traditionally used to improve gi disorders. we decided to study its anti-ulcer effects in pylorus-ligated rats. hydroalcoholic extract of flowers (125, 500, 2000 mg/kg), vehicle and ranitidine (50 mg/kg) were administered orally (p.o.) to separated groups of wistar rats of either sex (n=8). other groups received extract (500 mg/kg), ranitidine and vehicle intraperitoneally (i.p.). volume of contents, ph, ulcer number, scoring, incidence, area and finally ulcer index were assessed and compared with control groups. volume of gastric contents as well as ph (in reverse with acidity) increased in extract groups but the difference was not significant. in treatment groups, regardless of the changes in ulcer number and scores, the differences were not significant for both parameters compared to control groups. both the extract and reference drug (ranitidine) resulted in significant reduction in ulcer area and ulcer index and for latter the range of reduction was 21.8-39.1%. the least dose of extract (125 mg/kg) was not effective. we conclude that hydroalcoholic extract of t. disciforme was effective to protect against ulcer formation in pylorus-ligated rats and the action is not likely to be mediated through acid reduction.