Abstract

AN OVERVIEW OF IN VIVO SCREENING METHODS USED FOR EVALUATING ANTI- ULCER ACTIVITY

Sinju Philip* and Emily James

ABSTRACT

Peptic ulcers are one of the most common gastrointestinal disorder which affect the stomach or duodenum. Of the two main types of peptic ulcers (Gastric and Duodenal) that develop in humans, gastric ulcers are the most commonly found. Hyper secretion of gastric acid is a pathological condition, which occurs due to uncontrolled secretion of hydrochloric acid from the parietal cells of gastric mucosa through the proton pumping H+ K+ ATPase. The modern approach to control gastric ulcer is to inhibit gastric acid secretion, to promote gastro protection, to block apoptosis and stimulate epithelial cell-proliferation for effective healing. There are many animal models can be used for ulcer study to identify the antiulcer property of many new and existed drugs or plant-based medicines. Plant medicines with ethnomedicinal use in peptic ulcer management need to be screened for their effectiveness and possible isolation of lead compounds. This requires use of appropriate animal models of various ulcers. It is necessary to review the literature on experimental models used to screen agents with potential antiulcer activity and facilitate their use in the development of new preventive and curative antiulcer drugs. In this paper, different in vivo animal models of ulcer and the mechanism underlying their induction, their applications and the parameters to be estimated have been discussed.

Keywords: Peptic ulcer, In vivo animal models, Ulcer index.