Anti-ulcer effect of anisodamine in rats

Anisodamine, an analog of atropine, was isolated first in China. Anisodamine 12.5, 25, 50 mg.kg-1 ig protected the gastric mucosal damage induced by indomethacin, restraint, pyloric ligation or absolute ethanol in rats. Pretreatment with anisodamine 25 mg.kg-1 ig bid for 3 d decreased the incidence of ulcers in all of these models. The inhibitory rates were 27.4%, 75.9%, 80% and 65.4%, respectively. The secretion and activity of pepsin, the content of hexosamine in gastric tissue, the production of malondialdehyde and activity of superoxide dismutase were not affected by anisodamine except the secretion of gastric acid. It increased output of basal bicarbonate from 0.255 +/- 0.01 to 0.285 +/- 0.01 mumol.min-1 (P less than 0.05) and pH of content of stomach from 4.3 +/- 0.3 to 5.1 +/- 0.5 (P less than 0.05) when given by anisodamine 20 mg.kg-1 ig. It is apparent that both the inhibition on gastric acid secretion and augmentation of basal bicarbonate content of stomach are related to anti-ulcer effect of anisodamine.