Abstract
Gastric ulcer (GU) is the most common health concern that occurs due to an imbalance between gastric protective mucosal and aggressive factors. Ethanol-induced GU in animal models resembles the pathophysiology of human ulcers. Natural products with fewer side effects are highly requested to attenuate their GU effects. The present study was conducted to investigate the potential protective effects of donkey milk against ethanol-induced GU in rats. The male Wistar were divided into four groups, including normal control (distilled water), donkey milk (1 cm(3)/animal) and ranitidine (200 mg/kg). Donkey milk and ranitidine were given to rats orally daily for 10 consecutive days before induction of ulcer by ethanol. After 24 h of fasting, GU was induced by oral administration of ethanol. After an hour, the rats were sacrificed, and gastric samples were taken for pathologic analysis, malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) assessments. The results showed that the severity of ethanol-induced gastric damage was significantly reduced by donkey's milk pretreatment and then ranitidine. Reduction of ulcer score and MDA level, and also increasing GSH in the gastric tissue in comparison with other groups supports our results. This study described the gastroprotective and antioxidative effects of donkey milk that were determined with ulcer inhibition percentage.