Effects of different monosaccharides on histamine-stimulated gastric acid secretion and indomethacin-induced ulcer in Wistar rats

Abstract

Monosaccharides such as glucose, fructose and galactose have been established as the main energy source for physiological activities in the body. The current study was undertaken to investigate the effects of different monosaccarides on histamine-stimulated gastric acid secretion and also to investigate whether acute infusion of these sugars would mitigate indomethacin-induced ulcer. Male Wistar rats (200 – 250 g) were used for this experiment and were divided into two studies. Animals in both studies were divided into 4 groups (n=10) and were infused with normal saline (group 1), glucose (group 2), fructose (group 3) and galactose (group 4) respectively. Postload blood glucose was monitored and histamine was administered 10 min after determination of the basal pH in study one (acid secretion study) animals. In study two (ulcer study), indomethacin was administered 5 min after infusion and ulcer scores were estimated after 4 hours. The results from study one showed a significant reduction in pH (p<0.05) following histamine administration in the control group. However, there was an increase in pH (p<0.05), following histamine stimulation in the glucose, fructose and galactose groups respectively. Study two showed a significant decrease (p<0.05) in ulcer scores in groups infused with glucose and fructose while that of the galactose group was not significantly reduced (p<0.05) when compared with control. The results show that glucose, fructose and galactose infusion inhibits histamine-stimulated gastric secretion although glucose had the strongest effect while galactose had the weakest. This study also provides further evidence that blood glucose level is a strong determinant of ulcer formation by NSAIDS.

Keywords: Glucose, fructose, galactose, blood glucose, gastric secretion, ulcer score