Evaluation of Siphomeris lingun Bojer (Rubiaceae) anti gastric ulcer activity in rat

This work was carried out to evaluate the anti-gastric ulcer activity of the hydroalcoholic extract of Siphomeris lingun. Gastric ulcer was induced by two methods: 100 mg/kg/day of indomethacin administered orally for 5 days, and pylorus ligation. The study was done on rat, the S. lingun extract was administered orally at the doses 150, 300 and 600 mg/kg. The results of this study indicate that S. lingun reduces indomethacin induced mucosa lesion surface area. It is equal to 24.12 ± 0.21 mm2 in control group, versus 15.32 ± 0.12, 9.13 ± 0.25 and 5.22 ± 0.26 mm2 in animals treated with the extract at doses 150, 300 and 600 mg/kg (p<0.05), and 6.30 ± 0.12 mm2 in animals treated with misoprostol at the dose of 1.4 µg/kg. It also reduces gastric content acidity. The pH is equal to 2.64 ± 0.31 in the control group, versus 4.81 ± 0.25, 5.2 ± 0.31 and 5.9 ± 0.12 in the groups treated with the extract at doses 150, 300 and 600 mg/kg (p<0.05), and 6.34 ± 0.26 for the positive control group treated with cimetidine at the dose of 100 mg/kg. These results reveal the anti-gastric ulcer action of S. lingun extract, justifying its use in traditional medicine. Alkaloids and flavonoids in it might be responsible of this activity.