Oral administration of betaine ameliorates ethanol-induced gastric injury in rats through its antioxidant effects

[摘要] The aim of this study was to evaluate whether betaine ameliorates ethanol-induced gastric injury in rats. The morphological, histological and biochemical characteristics of gastric hemorrhagic lesions in ethanol-injured rats (n = 5/group) pretreated with betaine were analyzed and compared to non-treated controls. We compared the hemorrhagic dimensions using the Image J software, lipid peroxidation by malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) immunoreactivity in the gastric mucosa among treatment groups. Oral administration of 250 mg/kg betaine significantly reduced gastric hemorrhage dimensions compared with the vehicle-treated control (p <0.05). Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the expression of iNOS and its byproduct nitrotyrosine were significantly reduced in betaine-pretreated rats compared to vehicle-treated rats with ethanol injury (p < 0.05). Lipid peroxidation was also significantly reduced in the ethanol-injured rats pretreated with betaine compared with the vehicle-treated ethanol-injured group (p <0.05). Collectively, these results suggest that pretreatment of betaine ameliorates ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury, possibly through the inhibition of oxidative stress.

[学科分类] 药学

[关键词] Rat