Brazilian Medicinal Plant Acts on Prostaglandin Level and Helicobacter pylori

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Among the current treatment strategies for the peptic ulcer patient with Helicobacter pylori infection, the method of choice is triple therapy based on the concurrent use of proton inhibitors and two antibiotics. Alchornea triplinervia is a medicinal plant commonly used by people living in the Cerrado region of Brazil to treat gastrointestinal ulcers. In the present work we proposed therapy based on this medicinal plant that presents effective gastroprotective action with antibiotic effects. Oral pretreatment with methanolic extract (ME) of A. triplinervia in rats and mice decreased the gastric injuries induced by ethanol and HCl/ethanol. Increasing the dose reduced the gastroprotective effects of ME on the gastric lesions induced by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. After pylorus ligature of mice, oral administration of ME induced a decrease not only in total acid but also in the ulcer index. We also observed that ME displayed antibacterial activity against H. pylori. Liquid-liquid separation of ME indicated that active constituents responsible for the gastroprotective action are concentrated in the ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) (50% protection) rather than in the aqueous fraction, which did not induce significant gastroprotection at the same dose (100 mg/kg). EAF induced an increase of gastric mucosa prostaglandin (PG) E(2) levels, which remained high even after previous administration of indomethacin. The phytochemical profile of ME revealed that EAF contains mainly flavonoids. In conclusion, all these results suggest that ME did not show acute toxicity, but exhibited an antisecretory property, anti-H. pylori effect, and gastroprotective action. The observed effect did not involve the participation of nitric oxide or endogenous sulfhydryl groups. However, EAF showed a more efficient gastroprotective effect than ME at a lower dose and protected the gastric mucosa by increasing PGE(2).