Changes in gastric mucosa lipid profile with development of stress ulcer in rats

Sprague Dawley rats (110-125 gm, male, fasted) were restrained in wire screen enclosures for 22 hr. The rats were sacrificed and lipid analysis was performed on the mucosal scrapings pooled from stomachs which developed erosions, those which did not develop erosions and normal controls, respectively. Profound differences were observed between the ulcerated and normal stomachs in content of neutral lipids, phopholipids and glycolipids. The ulcerated stomachs contained much less cholesterol, phosphatidylethanolamine and ceramide polyhexosides but exhibited a higher titer of lytic phospholipids per weight of lipids extracted than did the normal stomachs. Restrained but nonulcerated rat stomach mucosa contained about the same amount of cholesterol as the normal stomach mucosa but was intermediate between the ulcerated and normal mucosa in phosphatidylethanolamine, lytic phospholipid titer and glycolipid pattern. It will be interesting to ascertain whether the altered lipid profiles result from selective solubilization of mucosal lipids (perhaps by bile salts or by lytic phospholipids) or from impaired synthesis or accelerated degradation of mucosal lipids.