Gastroprotective Effect of the Methanol Fraction of the Stem Bark Extract of Entada africana Guill. & Perr. in Wistar Rats

Peptic ulcer disease (PUD), is a debilitating condition characterized by the formation of sores in the stomach or duodenum, usually presenting with gastrointestinal pain and bleeding. Entada africana is used locally as herbal decoction to treat fever, dysentery and stomach ache. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-ulcer properties of the methanol stembark extract of Entada africana (MEA). The anti-ulcer activity of MEA was evaluated at graded doses (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg), using ethanol-induced, indomethacin-induced and pylorus-ligated (PL) ulcer models on Wistar rats. The ulcer index was calculated and histological assessments were carried out on isolated rat stomachs. MEA was shown to be safe orally. The ethanol model showed dose-dependent and statistically significant (p<0.0001) gastroprotective effects at all doses, with the highest dose of MEA (400 mg/kg) having the highest percentage inhibition of 98.1%, while omeprazole was 80.5%. Similarly, in the indomethacin model, MEA exerted a significant gastroprotective effect at the highest dose with a percentage inhibition of 74.9% while the standard drug was 85.9%. Increases in acidity and volume of acid output were observed with the PL model in all groups when compared to the control, however not statistically significant. Histological evaluation revealed regenerating mucosa at 100 and 200 mg/kg in the ethanol-induced model while the indomethacin-induced model showed almost complete re-epithelisation at the optimum dose of 200 mg/kg. Findings from this study show that MEA has good anti-ulcer and wound healing properties and this effect may be attributed to the mucosa protection rather than the anti-secretory properties.