Effect of sucralfate on ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage in the rat.

We studied the effect of sucralfate on ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage in the rat. In doses of 25, 50, 100, 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg given 1.5 hr before the oral administration of 3 g/kg ethanol, sucralfate inhibited the development of erosions by 36, 62, 72, 90, 98 and 100 percent, respectively. Cimetidine, up to a dose of 160 mg/kg, was ineffective in this model. Sucralfate, in a dose of 400 mg/kg, also decreased the drop in transmucosal potential difference produced by the intragastric instillation of 3 ml of 20% ethanol from 21 mV to 13 mV. In separate experiments, pylorus-ligated rats received 125I-labeled human serum albumin intravenously and the leakage of 125I-radioactivity into the gastric lumen was studied as a parameter of mucosal permeability to macromolecules. Ethanol, in a dose of 3 g/kg, produced a two-fold increase in leakage over control. This was prevented by sucralfate (250 mg/kg) when given either 1.5 hr before or 3 hr after the dose of ethanol. The results of these experiments suggest that sucralfate protects the gastric mucosa against ethanol-induced damage by enhancing mucosal resistance.