چكيده لاتين :
Research advances during recent years offer new insight into therapy and the
prevention of gastrointestinal ulcers by using medicinal plants. Flavonoids, tannins,
triterpenoids, fatty acids and essential oils are among the most effective herbal
constituents that have potential antiulcerogenic properties, and most of them could
be found in Zataria multiflora. Z. multiflora is one of the indigenous plants of Iran,
which is readily available and traditionally used to improve gastrointestinal disorders.
In a recent trial, we decided to study the potential antiulcerogenic effects of the plant
on an animal model of duodenal ulcer. Hydroalcoholic extract of the plant with doses
of 200, 400, 800 and 1200 mg/kg, ranitidine (50 mg/kg), sucralfate (2 g/kg) and 1
ml of the vehicle were administered orally to different groups of male Wistar rats.
Two other groups received (i.p.) vehicle (1 ml) and extract (800 mg/kg). Duodenum
ulcers were induced by cysteamine HCl and the number of ulcers, area, and finally
ulcer index were assessed. Ranitidine and sucralfate resulted in significant reduction
in the duodenal mucosal damage for the entire ulcer factors assessed. Increasing doses
of the extract resulted in a significant reduction in ulcerated area and index in a dose
dependent manner. We concluded that Z. multiflora extract was effective in protecting
against duodenal ulceration, and for the larger doses used, the efficacy was
comparable with the reference drugs. The mechanism of action couldn’t be clearly
proposed for the plant extract, however; the local mucosal enhancement and
cytoprotection may be involved.
