Department of Hematology/Pediatric Oncology, Yousef Abdulatif Jameel Scientific Chair of Prophetic Medicine Application, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
Ali H. El-Far
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Damanhour 22511, Egypt
Mohamed S. Elfeky
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21526, Egypt
Gastric ulceration is a multifactorial disease defined as a defect in the gastric wall that extends through the muscularis mucosae into the deeper layers of the wall. The most common cause of gastric ulceration is alcohol consumption. In the current study, rats were gavaged by ethanol to investigate the protective (before ethanol) and curative (after ethanol) ability of Commiphora myrrh (myrrh) oil and extract against gastric ulcer oxidative alterations induced by ethanol. Myrrh significantly improved ulcer index, histomorphology, and periodic acid Schiff (PAS) impaired by ethanol. In addition, myrrh improved the antioxidant potential of gastric mucosa through enhancement of nuclear factor related to erythroid 2 (Nrf2), total glutathione (GSH), reduced GSH, and oxidized glutathione (GSSG), along with significant reduction in malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Amelioration of gastric oxidative stress by myrrh enables gastric mucosa to counteract the ethanol’s inflammatory and apoptotic processes leading to improved gastric proliferation and healing. Interestingly, myrrh extract showed better protective and curative effects than myrrh oil against gastric ulceration.
