wogonin and Gastritis

Whether wogonin (5,7-dihydroxy-8-methoxyflavone), a flavonoid originated from the root of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, which has been shown to have antiinflammatory and antitumor activities in various cell types, possesses a gastric cytoprotective effect was investigated in an ethanol-induced gastric damage model in rats. Ethanol administration alone induced evident gastric damage including gastric hemorrhages and edema, while this gastric damage was significantly attenuated by wogonin pretreatment (30 mg/kg B.W.) 1 hr before ethanol administration. As major protective mechanisms of wogonin on ethanol-induced gastric damage, we found that wogonin showed either antiinflammatory effects through dual actions on arachidonic acid metabolism, i.e., induction of prostaglandin D2 and suppression of 5S-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (5S-HETE), or preventive induction of profuse apoptosis in the stomach. Conclusively, the flavonoid wogonin could be used as a preventive agent of alcohol-induced gastropathy, whose actions were proven to be strong antiinflammation and apoptosis induction.

Topics: Alanine; Animals; Anti-Ulcer Agents; Apoptosis; Arachidonic Acid; Cyclooxygenase 2; Cytoprotection; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Ethanol; Flavanones; Gastric Mucosa; Gastritis; HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins; Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic Acids; Isoenzymes; Male; Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthases; Quinolones; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley