Effects of some anti-inflammatory drugs on capillary permeability of the gastric mucosa in the rat.

It has been reported that many anti-inflammatory drugs employed in the treatment of rheumatic disorders cause various gastrointestinal disturbances , such as haemorrhage and the development or reactivation of peptic ulcer . The mechanisms involved are not understood precisely, but they may include stimulation of gastric acid secretion and de crease in the resistance of the local gastrointestinal mucosa (1). Serum proteins, albumin and globulin, have been found in gastric juice (2-4). A hypothesis that transudation of serum proteins from capillaries to the interstitial spaces and thence into the lumen of the stomach is a normal physiological process was proposed by Hollander and Horowitz (5). It has been shown that clinically a massive leakage of serum proteins into the stomach occurs often in gastric cancer, Menetrier's disease, and in some cases of gastric atrophy (6, 7). In addition, experimentally increased plasma output was seen in the canine stomach irrigated with fatty acids or salicylates (8). In the present study, in order to find some relationships between gastric disturbances and chages in capillary permeability of the gastric mucosa , we investigated the effects of anti-inflammatory drugs, that is, aspirin, cinchophen, cortisone , indomethacin, and phenyl butazone, and three plant extracts which have anti-inflammatory or anti-peptic ulcer activities (9-12), on the output of plasma and the volume of gastric juice .