Effect of Capsicum annum L (pucunucho, ají mono) in gastric ulcer experimentally induced in rats

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of the Capsicum annum L lyophilized fruit extract in experimentally-induced gastric ulcer in rats.MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used the model of indomethacin gastric ulcer-induced and the gastric ulcer model induced by pylorus ligation in rats. The rats were divided in five treatment groups as follow: G1: Distilled water 1 ml/Kg; G2: Ranitidine 50 mg/kg, G3: Capsicum 10mg/kg, G4: Capsicum 100 mg/kg, G5: Capsicum 1000 mg/kg.RESULTS: The results of the first model showed an ulcer inhibition of 60,4% and 66,7% using the doses of Capsicum at 10 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg, respectively. The results of the second model showed that neither the pH nor the volume of the gastric content were modified by the administered extract (p >0.05); however, by using the doses of Capsicum at 100 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg, there was clearly an ulcer inhibition of 75.59% and 81.63% respectively, which were even greater than the inhibition obtained by ranitidine (75.51%).CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, in this experiment we demonstrated that the Capsicum annum L lyophilized fruit extract has a gastroprotective effect in experimentally-induced gastric ulcer in rats.