Potential antioxidant and antiapoptotic effects of eplerenone versus omeprazole on water immersion restraint stress induced gastric injury in rats

Use of proton pump inhibitors as omeprazole in prophylaxis against gastric stress ulcers complicating acute myocardial infarction leads to serious cardiovascular events. Eplerenone is one of the drugs used in treatment of acute myocardial infarction. We have investigated in the current study the possible protective effects of eplerenone versus omeprazole against water immersion restraint stress-induced gastric injury in rats. Twenty four male white albino wistar rats were divided into four groups having six rats in each. These groups were normal control, stress non treated control and two stress groups pretreated with either eplerenone (100 mg/kg i.p) or omeprazole (8 mg/kg i.p). The injury index of gastric mucosa and structural change of parietal cells was observed under scanned electron microscope. Malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl were quantified in gastric tissues as biomarkers of lipid peroxidation and protein damage respectively. Apoptosis was assessed by measuring DNA fragmentation %. The injury index, Malondialdehyde level, protein carbonyl content and DNA fragmentation % parameters were significantly decreased in water immersion restraint stress groups pretreated with either eplerenone or omeprazole (p 0.05). The scanned electron microscope of eplerenone pretreated group showed significant reduction in the degree of damage while the omeprazole pretreated group showed nearly complete healing. Our results demonstrated that gastric lesions attenuation by eplerenone are through its antioxidant and antiapoptotic effects and therefore it can be regarded as a useful option for therapy of patients with acute myocardial infarction at risk of developing gastric stress ulcers and threatened gastrointestinal bleeding risk