GASTROPROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF POLYHERBAL AYURVEDIC FORMULATION: AN AVIPATTIKAR CHURNA

Maitreyi  Zaveri^1,*, Vipul Patel¹

1. Department of Pharmacognosy, K.B. Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Sector-23, GH-6, Gandhinagar-382023, Gujarat, India.

ABSTRACT

The current study was undertaken to investigate the effect of the avipattikar churna against experimental gastric ulcers. Pretreatment of aqueous extract of churna at the dose of 540 mg/kg, for seven days was studied against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage. The aqueous extract showed significant reduction in gastric ulceration against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage. The results were comparable with omeprazole (reference standard). In the ethanol-induced gastric ulcer model, treatment with both the aqueous extract and omeprazole showed significant antioxidant activity as evident from the reduction in the extent of lipid peroxidation that was measured in terms of malondialdehyde (MDA), when compared with the control group. Pretreatment of aqueous extract of churna for 7 days in 6-h pylorus-ligated animals, showed significant reduction in the ulcer index. Furthermore, in the pylorus  ligation model, significant reduction (p<0.05) was observed in total acidity, total acid output, pepsin activity, and pepsin output, along with a significant rise in the total carbohydrate to protein ratio (reflecting mucin activity) when compared with the control group. The mechanism of its antiulcer activity could be attributed to a decrease in gastric acid secretory and antioxidant activities leading to gastric cytoprotection. The ulceroprotective activity of aqueous extract of Avipattikar churna could be mediated through its antioxidant activity, vasodilatation, and gastric cytoprotection.

Keywords: Cytoprotective, Antioxidant activity, stress ulcer, gastric ulcer, avipattikar churna