Hiromi Hayashi, Takashi Ohno, Kazuo Nishiyama, Katsuharu Boku, Makoto Katori* and Masataka Majima
Department of Pharmacology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Kitasato 1-15-1, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 228-8555, Japan
*Corresponding author. Present address for correspondence: Higashi 1-14-3, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0011, Japan
FAX: +81-3-5466-4663, E-mail: hy3m-ktr@asahi-net.or.jp
Abstract: Pre-exposure of the rat gastric mucosa to capsaicin reduced the mucosal lesion by 50% ethanol to 1/4. Treatment with an antagonist of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), CGRP (8 - 37), nullified the effect of capsaicin. During constant perfusion of the gastric lumen with physiological saline + pepstatin, the CGRP level was not increased by 50% ethanol, but it showed a peak (802.5 ± 145.7 pg/2 min) after 1.6 mM capsaicin. Four minutes after capsaicin, the CGRP level was kept at a high level and the gastric lesion was markedly reduced by re-exposure of the mucosa to 50% ethanol. At 20 - 30 min after capsaicin, the CGRP levels returned to the resting level and the reddened area by 50% ethanol was not reduced. It was concluded that capsaicin transiently prevented the mucosal lesion through CGRP release.
Keywords: Gastric lesion, Capsaicin, Calcitonin gene-related peptide
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