Efficacy of Capsicum Frutescens in Curing the Peptic Ulcer

Chili peppers are often used around the world to make a wide variety of sauces, known as hot sauce, chili sauce, or pepper sauce. Red chilis contain high amounts of vitamin C and carotene (provitamin A). meanwhile Several studies found that capsaicin could have an anti-ulcer protective effect on stomachs infected with H. pylori by affecting the chemicals the stomach secretes in response to infection. The present study was designated to clear out the effect of aqueous extracts of red chilli pepper (RCP) and some spicy foods on healing acute gastric ulcer induced by aspirin in rats. Sixty six adult male albino rats (170+5g B.Wt.) of Sprague Dawley Strain were obtained from animal house of the faculty of medicine, Um Al Qura University were used and disported into 6 groups (n= 6 rats), one of them used as control -ve while other groups had given aspirin orally (200mg/kg B.Wt.), one of these groups left as control +ve and other groups administrated with aqueous extracts of RCP at doses of 300 and 600 mg/kg B.Wt. and 30% spicy nuggets and chicken for seven days. The length of gastric ulcer, volume of gastric juice, pH value, and histopathological changes were examined. Our results revealed that, oral administration of aspirin (200mg/kg B.Wt.) induced gastric ulcer in rats; the mean length of gastric ulcer in control +ve group was higher compared with in control -ve group. Also, Oral administration of RCP extract at a dose of 600mg/kg B.Wt., caused high decrease in the length of gastric ulcer. On the other hand, the lowest decrease of gastric ulcer length was happened in rats fed on 30% spicy nuggets. The results concluded that oral administration with all tested plants reduced the length of gastric ulcer, volume of gastric juice, and histopathological changes. On the other hand, RCP extracts Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol., 15(1) (2013), 43-54 44 increased pH value of gastric juice. According to the results, RCP could be used for healing acute gastric ulcer disease.