Protective effect of Bojungikki-tang, a traditional herbal formula, against alcohol-induced gastric injury in rats.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL EVIDENCE: Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ethanol-induced acute gastric mucosal injury. Bojungikki-tang (Hochuekkito in Japanese, Bu-zhong-yi-qi-tang in Chinese) is a traditional herbal formula used in Korea, Japan, and China to treat allergic diseases and gastrointestinal disorders. However, the mechanism responsible for its actions has not been investigated experimentally.

AIM OF THE STUDY: The aims of this study were to investigate whether Bojungikki-tang water extract (BJITE) has protective effects against ethanol-induced acute gastric injury in rats and to perform an acute toxicity study to evaluate its safety.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this rat model, gastric mucosal injury was imposed by oral administration of 5 mL/kg body weight of absolute ethanol. BJITE at one of two doses (200 or 400 mg/kg body weight) was administered by gavage 2 h before ethanol administration. Gastric tissues were collected and analyzed to assess the gastric injury index, and content or activity of catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), glutathione-S-transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GR), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx).

RESULTS: Acute administration of ethanol significantly increased the gastric injury index concomitantly with an increase in MDA and GSH content, and a decrease in the activities of catalase, GST, GR, GPx, and SOD. Pretreatment with 200 or 400 mg/kg BJITE attenuated ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury; this was accompanied by an increase in the content or activity of PGE(2), catalase, GSH, GST, GR, GPx, and SOD, and a decrease in MDA content. In the acute toxicity study, no adverse effects of BJITE were observed at doses up to 2000 mg/kg body weight.

CONCLUSION: These results indicate that BJITE can partly protect the gastric mucosa from ethanol-induced acute gastric injury and suggest that these protective effects might be induced by increasing the antioxidant status. We suggest that BJITE can be developed as an effective drug for the treatment of acute gastric injury.