Protection against absolute-ethanol-induced gastric antral and corpus mucosal injury. A gross and histologic study.

The purpose of this study was to systematically assess 100% ethanol-induced gross and histologic injury of the antral and the corpus mucosa of the rat stomach and the effect of two protective agents, a prostaglandin analog and meciadanol (a flavenoid) on this injury. The gross antral injury was much more subtle than the corpus injury. Therefore, different scoring criteria were developed for the antrum. Surprisingly, however, the extent and severity of histologic injury was similar in both areas. Pretreatment with either meciadanol or 16,16-dimethyl prostaglandin E2 significantly protected against this injury in the antrum as well as in the corpus.