Gastric mucosal apoptosis induced by ethanol: Effect of antiulcer agents

In this study, we investigated gastric epithelial cells' apoptosis and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) expression with ethanol-induced mucosal injury, and the effect of antiulcer agents on this process. Rats received intragastric pretreatment with the agent or vehicle followed 1 h later by ethanol, and after 30 min the gastric mucosa was assessed for TNF-α and apoptosis. In the absence of antiulcer agents, ethanol caused extensive mucosal lesions accompanied by a 9.5-fold enhancement in apoptosis and a 2.5-fold increase in TNF-α. Pretreatment with omeprazole evoked a 54% reduction in TNF-α, but had no effect on ethanol-induced mucosal damage or apoptosis, the sucralfate reduced the extent of mucosal damage by 95%, apoptosis by 39% and TNF-α by 52%, while ebrotidine not only prevented mucosal injury and rise in TNF-α, but also caused a 70% reduction in epithelial cells' apoptosis. The results demonstrate that ethanol-induced gastric epithelial cells apoptosis triggered by the enhancement in mucosal TNF-α is efficiently counteracted by ebrotidine.