Surfactant approach to the gastric mucosal barrier: protection of rats by banana even when acidified.
Physical studies of their suspensions have shown bananas to be highly surface active at both liquid-air and solid-liquid interfaces which they render hydrophobic by adsorption of phospholipid detected by thin-layer chromatography and by staining. Electron microscopy of the fruit has demonstrated lamellar bodies--the same form in which phospholipid is so surface-active in the lung. When administered to intact rats and scored by two methods (ulcer length and area), banana imparted appreciable (75%) protection against acid insult (1 ml of 0.8 N HCl) in a dose-dependent manner not attributable to "bulking" or buffering as it was equally effective at a pH of 2. The best protection (89% by ulcer length) was obtained with banana vortexed with milk (1:1), this mixture offering the possibility of a simple foodstuff on which to maintain patients treated acutely by suppressing acid secretion pharmacologically. These studies support Davenport's original concept of a gastric mucosal barrier--but one whose physical reality is provided by an adsorbed layer of surface-active phospholipid (surfactant).
Hills
B A
BA
Department of Physiology, University of New England, Armidale, Australia.
Kirwood
C A
CA
D000818:Animals; D002021:Buffers; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008892:Milk; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013276:Stomach Ulcer / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013501:Surface-Active Agents
D002021:Buffers; D010743:Phospholipids; D013501:Surface-Active Agents