Honey potentiates the gastric protection effects of sucralfate against ammonia-induced gastric lesions in rats.
BACKGROUND
Natural honey is widely used all over the world as a complementary and alternative medicine in various disorders including gastrointestinal lesions.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effects of combination of low dosage of honey (0.312 g/kg) and sucralfate (0.125 or 0.250 g /kg) on gastric protection and to determine any potentiating interactions between them against ammonia-induced gastric lesions in rats.


METHODS
Twenty-four hours fasted rats were given I ml of ammonium hydroxide 1 % intragastrically and they were killed one hour later under deep ether anesthesia. The gastric lesion index was calculated according to the method of Takaishi et al 1998. Non protein sulthydryls level was determined spectrophotometrically as described by Sedlak and Lindsay 1968.


RESULTS
Administration of ammonium hydroxide produced red and black linear lesions and significant depletion of gastric nonprotein sulthydryls level. Oral administration of honey (0.312g/kg) or sucralfate (0.125 and 0.250 g/kg) 30 min before ammonium hydroxide reduced the severity of gastric mucosal lesions by 1 I or 18 and 42 % respectively, and has shown the changes in nonprotein sulfhydryls level induced by ammonium hydroxide. Furthermore, pretreatment with a combination of a low dose of honey (0.312 g /kg) and sucralfate (0.125 g or 0.250 g/kg) afforded significantly greater protection (58 and 77 %) than that obtained with either of them administered alone.


CONCLUSIONS
The present results suggest potentiation of gastric protection effect of sucralfate by honey and this may have a clinical value in the treatment of peptic ulcer diseases in Helicobacter pylori positive patients.
Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. mobarok@ksu.edu.sa
Abu Taib Mohammad Mobarok
AT
Ali
Othman Abdullah
OA
Al Swayeh