Genistein ameliorated experimentally induced gastric ulcer in rats via inhibiting gastric tissues fibrosis by modulating Wnt/β-catenin/TGF-β/PKB pathway.

OBJECTIVES

Gastric ulcer (GU) is a prevalent chronic digestive disease affecting about 10% of the world's population leading to gastrointestinal perforation and bleeding. Genistein is a legume flavonoid with antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the ability of genistein to reduce experimentally induced GU in rats by affecting gastric tissue fibrosis Wnt/β-catenin/TGF-β/SMAD4 pathway.

METHODS

Thirty rats were used. Ten rats served as control, and GU was induced in twenty rats using a single dose of indomethacin (80 mg/kg) orally. Following induction of GU, ten were treated with genistein 25 mg/kg orally. The gastric tissues were isolated to investigate markers of gastric fibrosis, Wnt, β-catenin, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, SMAD4, and Protein kinase B (PKB). In addition, gastric sections were stained with PAS and anti-TGF-β antibodies.

RESULTS

Investigation GU micro-images revealed degeneration in both surface cells and glandular epithelial cells, which was improved by genistein. In addition, treatment with genistein significantly reduced the expression of Wnt, β-catenin, TGF-β, SMAD4, and PKB.

CONCLUSION

Besides antioxidant activity, genistein improves experimentally induced GU in rats, at least in part, via reduction of gastric tissue fibrosis as indicated by reduction in expression of Wnt, β-catenin, TGF-β, SMAD4, and PKB.