Protective effects of the whisky congeners on ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage.

BACKGROUND: The ingestion of both ethanol and whisky can induce acute gastrointestinal bleeding. The effects of the congeners, substances other than ethanol in whisky, on the ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage were examined in the rat model.

METHODS: After the whisky congeners were intragastrically administered previous to or simultaneous with ethanol ingestion, the gastric damage was macroscopically and microscopically measured.

RESULTS: The simultaneous administration of the whisky congeners at a dose of 5 mg/kg body weight, which corresponds to the concentration of congeners contained in whisky, with 50% ethanol did not inhibit the hemorrhagic lesions, but inhibited them at a dose of 150 mg/kg. The treatment with the whisky congeners 30 minutes before the ethanol ingestion prevented the ethanol-induced gastric damage in a dose-dependent manner at 0.5 to 150 mg/kg. The butanol extract of the congeners revealed the strongest prevention compared with the ethyl acetate extract or the water fraction. The administration of indomethacin 60 minutes before the congener treatment partly inhibited the protective effects of the congeners, indicating the partial contribution of prostaglandins in this mechanism. The congeners did not prevent the mucosa by action as a "mild irritant" because the immunohistochemical studies using the antimucin monoclonal antibodies showed that no damage was induced by the administration of the congeners.

CONCLUSION: The present results showed that the whisky congeners have a protective activity against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury.