Effects of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), ASA plus L-glutamine and L-glutamine on healing of chronic gastric ulcer in the rat.

A chronic gastric ulcer model was produced in rats by the subserosal injection of 20% acetic acid solution (0.015 ml) in order to examine whether (1) acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) irritates the chronic gastric ulcer in active or healed or diminished stage, (2) L-glutamine, given together with ASA, inhibits the adverse effect of ASA. Oral ASA 200 mg/kg/day, given in two divided doses for 10 consecutive days, apparently delayed the healing of the gastric ulcer and irritated the healed ulcer to reulcerate. L-Glutamine, 1,500 mg/kg/day, which was given together with ASA in two divided doses, markedly protected the gastric ulcer both in active and healed stages from the deleterious activity of ASA.