AJP - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Vol 266, Issue 2 503-R509, Copyright © 1994 by American Physiological Society
Gastric damage and body weight loss in LHA-lesioned rats: effects of cytoprotective geranylgeranylacetone
T. Namiki, M. Egawa, S. Inoue, S. Tominaga and Y. Takamura
Third Department of Internal Medicine, Yokohama City University Medical School, Japan.
We investigated the development of gastric damage and body weight (BW) loss
in lateral hypothalamic area (LHA)-lesioned rats, measured 2 h and 1 and 3
days after the lesioning (experiment 1), as well as the effects of
geranylgeranylacetone (GGA), a cytoprotective antiulcer agent, on these
disorders (experiment 2). In experiment 1, BW of LHA-lesioned rats
decreased throughout the 3-day experiment. In LHA-lesioned rats, gastric
mucosal lesions appeared 1 day after lesioning in the glandular portion and
persisted, whereas those in the rumenal portion appeared only after 3 days.
Gastric transepithelial potential differences (PDs) of glandular portion
began to decrease after 2 h and had decreased in both portions. Gastric
acid output was increased transiently at 2 h but it was not high after 1
day and after 3 days was lower than that in sham-LHA-lesioned rats. In
experiment 2, PDs of the rumenal decreased more in LHA-lesioned rats than
in sham-LHA-lesioned rats pair fed to LHA-lesioned rats after 3 days. Three
days of treatment with GGA (200 mg/kg ip) improved PDs of rumenal and
glandular portions in LHA-lesioned rats and reduced lesions of the rumenal
portion. Loss of BW in LHA-lesioned rats was significantly but not
completely inhibited by GGA. These results indicate that disturbance to the
gastric defensive mechanism plays an important role in the development of
gastric lesions after LHA lesions and that the impairment of gastric
functions may be a partial cause of the loss of BW in LHA-lesioned rats.
