Effect Of Ocimum Sanctum Leaf Extract On Swimming Stress Induced Ulcers In Rats

摘要

Ocimum sanctum is a medicinal plant which has been used studied for various properties and used in various conditions.In the present study, ocimum sanctum was investigated for its effects against swimming stress induced ulcers in albino rats. The effects were compared with ranitidine. The leaf extract of ocimum sanctum showed significant antiulcer activity in the dose of 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg. The results were comparable to ranitidine though ranitidine was found to be more potent. Ocimum sanctum may be operating by antagonism of H2 receptors, by antisecretory mechanism or by antioxidant property as an antiulcer agent against stress induced gastric ulcers. Since this drug has been documented to have antiulcerogenic property earlier and has shown significant activity in the present study, more studies are required to explore its complete therapeutic usefulness. Introduction In our study we have used ocimum sanctum (Krishna Tulsi). It is commonly known as Tulsi in hindi and belongs to family Labiatae/Laminaceae. All parts of the plant are useful but leaves, seeds and roots are particularly of importance as medicinal agents. It is a hairy annual herb/undershrub of average height measuring 85 cms1,2. The leaf of ocimum sanctum is elliptical. The leaf powder is green brown in colour and gives an aromatic smell like cloves3 .The plant has been reported to possess various activities like antioxidant4,5,6 antiasthmatic7,8,9,10, antistress/adaptogenic11, antipyretic and antiinflammatory12, antiviral13, antibacterial14, insecticidal and antimalarial15,16, antifungal14. Ocimum sanctum has also been investigated for its antiulcer activity17,18,19,20. Since studies regarding its antiulcer property are limited, we decide to evaluate its activity against stress induced gastric ulcers and compare the results with ranitidine as no comparison has been done in the previous studies. Materials and Methods Animals Albino rats: Animals of either sex, weighing between 120-180 gm were used to study the effect on pyloric ligation induced gastric ulceration. All the animals were caged under standard conditions and were allowed to acclimatize to their surroundings for one week before subjecting them to experimentation. Prior to experimentation permission was taken from institutional ethical committee. Drugs and Chemicals Test drug: Fresh leaves of the plant ocimum sanctum were collected during the month of April from a local area in Sevagram and were shade dried and powdered. A hydroalcoholic (70% V/V) extract of this powdered form of ocimum sanctum was prepared. This extract was again shade dried and was used to prepare an aqueous solution in desired concentration just before use every time. The same extract was used for all the experiments. Ranitidine (Ranbaxy, India): It was diluted in distilled water to get the desired concentration. Method for swimming stress induced gastric ulcers in rats The animals were kept fasting for 24 hours but were allowed free access to water before the experiment. They were randomly divided into five groups of six animals each. Group I received distilled water (10ml/kg) orally and served as control whereas group II, III and IV were administered the test drug (ocimum sanctum) in doses of 50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg respectively. The animals in group V were administered ranitidine (10 mg/kg) orally which served as standard for comparison. The rats were forced to swim after 30 minutes of drug treatment inside a vertical cylinder (height 40cms and diameter 20 cms) containing water upto 20cms height approximately. The height of the water column was so adjusted that the rats did not jump out of the cylinder. The temperature of the water was maintained at 28-290C. After 5 hours, the animals were sacrificed with an overdosage of ether anaesthesia. The stomach was taken out, cut open, ulcers were visualized and ulcer index was determined.Statistical analysisData were analyzed by Student’s t test. The value of t was calculat