Reversing gastric mucosal alterations during ethanol-induced chronic gastritis in rats by oral administration of Opuntia ficus-indica mucilage

Table 1 Incidence of microscopic lesions in stomach of rats treated with ethanol and mucilage from O. ficus-indica

Experimentalgroups	Parameters
	Time(h)	S. epithelium(disruption)	Specializedcells (loss)	PMNinfiltration
Controls	--	---	---	---
Gastritis + saline	0	+++	++/+++	+++
Gastritis + saline	24	+++	++	+++
Gastritis + saline	48	++/+++	+/++	+++
Gastritis + saline	72	+/++	+	+/++
Gastritis + mucilage	24	+++	++	+++
Gastritis + mucilage	48	++	+	+++
Gastritis + mucilage	72	+	--/+	+

Controls corresponding to rats treated with saline. Scale for injury degree: (-) absent, (+) slight, (++) moderate and severe (+++). PMN: Polymorphonuclear leukocytes; S.: Surface.

Table 2 Phospholipid composition of stomach mucosal membranes of gastritis rats treated with mucilage from O. ficus-indica (mean ± SE)

Experimentalgroups	Phospholipids (nmols of phosphate per mg of protein)
	PA	PS	PI	PC	PE
Controls	29 ± 4	103 ± 12	172 ± 9	464 ± 25	206 ± 20
Plus saline
Gastritis (Time zero)	35 ± 5	123 ± 14	111 ± 16a	333 ± 52	219 ± 22
Gastritis (24 h)	34 ± 5	121 ± 12	139 ± 10a	314 ± 37a	321 ± 32a
Gastritis (48 h)	38 ± 5	135 ± 11	126 ± 11a	332 ± 20a	266 ± 23
Gastritis (72 h)	40 ± 5	141 ± 19	126 ± 15a	372 ± 30a	247 ± 18
Plus mucilage
Gastritis (24 h)	38 ± 4	136 ± 11	148 ± 21	321 ± 35a	347 ± 33a
Gastritis (48 h)	36 ± 5	128 ± 9	137 ± 12 a	384 ± 39	232 ± 16
Gastritis (72 h)	29 ± 4	102 ± 19	160 ± 15 b	453 ± 31b	196 ± 18

PA: Phosphatidic acid; PS: Phosphatidylserine; PI: Phosphatidylinositol; PC: Phosphatidylcholine; PE: Phosphatidylethanolamine.

^aP < 0.01 vs controls;

^bP < 0.01 vs rats subjected to gastritis (untreated with mucilage).