Published online Jun 25, 1996. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v2.i2.76
Revised: February 10, 1996
Accepted: April 5, 1996
Published online: June 25, 1996
AIM: We examined the stereological and ultrastructural changes of the gastric mucosa of rats with chronic gastritis so that the curative effects could be determined after respective treatments for Piweixuhan chronic gastritis (PXG, cold of insufficiency syndrome of the spleen and the stomach) and Ganweibuhe chronic gastritis (GBG, incoordination syndrome of the liver and the stomach) with Jianpiwenwei decoction (JWD, invigorating the spleen and warming the stomach) and Shuganhewei decoction (SHD, dispersing the stagnated liver-qi and regulating the stomach).
METHODS: Forty-five Wistar rats were randomly divided into the following 9 groups: N group, normal control group; PXG model group, induced by isoimmunization plus reserpine moulding method; JWD treatment group, PXG model rats treated with JWD and subdivided into 3 subgroups for treatment with large dose, moderate dose and small dose (10, 5 and 2.5 mL/kg, respectively); GBG model group, generated by isoimmunization plus electricity enraged method; SHD treatment group, which consisted of GBG model rats treated with SHD and was subdivided into 3 subgroups for treatment with large dose, moderate dose and small dose (as above). The JWD and SHD were Professor Jian-Xiong Zhao’s prescription that has been applied clinically for many years. The crude drugs’ content in the decoction was 1600 g/L. The treatment groups and the model groups were respectively given oral decoction and NS once daily. After 7 wk, all the rats were sacrificed. Paraffin-embedded sections and ultrathin sections of the gastric mucosa from the body and the antrum of the stomach of each rat were made with conventional methods. The former sections (n = 5) were used to measure the thickness of gastric mucosa by the stereological weibel point-counting method, and the latter sections (n = 3) were used to observe the ultrastructural changes of gastric mucosa.
RESULTS: The thickness of gastric mucosa in the body was not significantly different between each group (P < 0.05), but in the antrum the mucosa showed obvious atrophy in the two model groups wen compared with the N group (P < 0.0 and, P < 0.05, respectively); the thickness in the treatment groups given the large dose and moderate dose was remarkably recovered in comparison to that in the model groups (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). The main ultrastructural changes were atrophy and degeneration of the epithelial cells and mucous cells, and increased intercellular space, especially in the antrum. In general, these changes were similar in the two model groups. The treatment of large dose and moderate dose decreased the degree of mucosal injury or recovered the injury significantly.
CONCLUSION: The characteristics of pathological changes of chronic gastritis in rats were atrophy and degeneration of epithelial cells and mucous cells, which thereby led to atrophy of the gastric mucosa. After treatment with JWD and SHD, the atrophic lesion recovered significantly.