Preventive Effect of Pirenzepine on Atrophic Erosive Gastritis in Rats

The preventive effect of pirenzepine on atrophic erosive gastritis induced experimentally after long exposure of the gastric mucosa in rats to sodium taurocholate (TCA) described. Gastritis was produced in male Wistar rats by giving drinking water ad libitum containing 5 mM TCA for 11 months (Group T). Preventive effect of pirenzepine was designed by giving powder meal containing 100 mg/kg of pirenzepine with TCA-containing drinking water for 11 months (Group P). Rats were also raised with the standard powder meal which is the same as in other two groups but without the agent for 11 months (Group N). The parameters employed in the present study for atrophic erosive gastritis are mucosal surface injury (erosion), reduction of parietal cells per unit area, inflammatory cell infiltration, decreased mucosal thickness and proliferation of collagenous fiber. Significant decrease in the length of total erosions and in the number of ulcers was present in rats with Group P when compared to those in Group T. The mucosal thickness and the number of parietal cells in Group P were not different from those in Group N. Fibrotic proliferation and cyst formation were significantly decreased in Group P when compared to those in Group T. These data indicate that pirenzepine has a preventive effect on the development of atrophic erosive gastritis by TCA in rats.