Effects of drugs on the production of stress ulcer in the rat.

The authors studied the effect of drugs with different mechanisms of action on the prevention of stress ulcer production in the rat. Stress ulcer was induced by a method developed by the authors: intact, starved rats were swum in water at 23 degrees C for 5 hours. Atropine (0.1-0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg i.m.), cimetidine (1.0-5.0 and 25 mg/kg i.p.), prostacyclin (PGI2) (5.0-25.0 and 100 micrograms/kg i.p.) and phentolamine (0.35-1.75-3.5 and 7.0 mg/kg i.m.) were shown to decrease the production of stress ulcers significantly, in a dose-dependent fashion. Propranolol (0.35-1.75-3.5 and 7.0 mg/kg i.m.) did not influence the production of stress ulcers. The finding that drugs with different actions could considerably reduce or prevent the production of stress ulcer appears to indicate the complexity of the neural, hormonal and biochemical processes involved in the pathogenesis. On the basis of the present results the authors suggest the use of a preventive therapeutic regimen in clinical practice with an appropriate combination of drugs.