Mucus secretion and collagen fibres integrity are compromised in aspirin induced gastric lesion; protective role of Musa paradisiaca

The study investigated the healing effects of flavonoid-rich fraction of Musa paradisiaca fruit on the gastric corpus of Wistar rats following aspirin induced-gastric lesion. Ninety adult male Wistar rats were assigned to 6 groups. Gastric lesion was induced in groups B, C, D, E and F rats by administration of 400 mg/kg aspirin. After 24 hours, the extract of M. paradisiaca was administered to groups C, D and E at graded doses for 21 days. Group F rats received omeprazole at 1.8 mg/kg daily for 21 days. The rats were sacrificed on days 14, 21 and 28. Gastric tissues were fixed in neutral buffered formalin and processed by paraffin wax embedding. Sections were stained with haematoxylin and eosin, Masson's trichrome and periodic acid-Schiff's. There was a gradual restoration of the damaged epithelia in the treatment groups. Histomorphometric studies revealed a significant increase in the total thickness of mucosal layers in the treatment groups when compared with aspirin only group. There was a dose-dependent improvement in staining for mucins in the treatment groups. Also, the treatment groups displayed a progressively positive stain for deposition of collagen. It is concluded that M. paradisiaca significantly attenuated the damaging effects of aspirin on the gastric mucosa, probably via a mechanism involving increase in mucin secretion.Key wordsGastric lesion, mucins, acetylsalicylic acid, collagen, flavonoids.