PROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF GARLIC OIL ON ETHANOL INDUCED GASTRIC ULCER ON ALBINO WISTAR RATS

ABSTRACT Gastric ulcer also known as a stomach ulcer, is a sore or lesion that develops on the lining of the stomach. It occurs when the mucous layer that protects the stomach lining from acidic digestive juices is compromised, allowing the acid to damage the stomach tissue. Ethanol also known as alcohol is an organic compound which is a psychoactive depressant, it is the active ingredient in alcoholic drinks .Ethanol historically used as a general anesthetic has modern applications as an antiseptic, disinfectant, solvent for some medications and antidote for methanol poisoning but is known for inducing gastric mucosal damage and ulcers. Theaim of the study is to investigate the protective effect of garlic oil on ethanol induced ulcer on albino wistar rats.A total of twenty (20) female adult rats were used for this research. They were randomly divided into five groups of four rats per group and housed in a well-ventilated plastic cage, in the animal house of College of Health Science, Benue State University, Makurdi. They were allowed 14 days to acclimatize before the commencement of treatment. Group I served as the control group, Group II was the negative control group(Ethanol group), Group III and Group IV and V served as the treatment groups. Group I and II were exposed to distilled water and feed only for the 10 days of treatment, Group III and IV and V were exposed to 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg and 600mg/kg of Garlic oilrespectively. The administration was done using oral gavage needle. The experiment lasted for a period of 24 days, after which they were sacrificed using chloroform anesthesia. The results of the study showed that for interleukin-1; groups II and III showed a slight decreasing effect on the interleukin-1 activity, group 4 showed a statistically significant decrease when compared to the control group. While for Malondialdehyde (MDA) only the negative control group showed a statistically significant difference to the control group upon group comparisons.For the catalase (CAT) enzyme activity, there were slight alterations in the levels across groups, with the negative control group showing the most decrease in mean but not statistically significant. For Superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels, groups I, III and V showed a statistically significant decrease when compared to the control group with group II the negative control group showing the most decrease, and for gastric ulcer indexthe negative control group and all the treated groups showed a statistically significant increase in mean when compared to the control group with the negative control group showing the most increase. In conclusion the study showed that, treatment with Garlic oil exhibited anti-ulcerogenic and antioxidant effects, which may be due to the enhanced antioxidant enzymes. The anti-ulcerogenic and antioxidant effects of garlic oilextract also proved to be more effective at a higher dose.