Inhibitors of gastric lesions in the rat.

The production by stress of gastric lesions in rats was inhibited by metiamide and by mepyramine. Lesions induced by indomethacin treatment were inhibited by mepyramine but not by metiamide. Those induced by aspirin treatment in pylorus-ligated rats were not affected by either antihistamine drug. Oral glutamine inhibited lesion production in all three systems whereas aspirin orally markedly potentiated it. Sodium salicylate inhibited both indomethacin-induced lesions and those produced by aspirin in pylorus-ligated rats. On the other hand, copper salicylate inhibited stress-induced lesions and it, like copper aspirinate, also markedly reduced the extent of lesions produced by aspirin. On the basis of these results, stress-induced lesion production offers a suitable animal model for testing anti-ulcer drugs as it is, like most human gastric ulcers, inhibited by H2-receptor inhibitors like metiamide.