Journal of Medicinal Plants Research Vol. 4(8), pp. 685-691, 18 April, 2010 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JMPR DOI: 10.5897/JMPR10.018 ISSN 1996-0875© 2010 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Anti-ulcerogenic activity of Gynura procumbens leaf extract against experimentally-induced gastric lesions in rats A. A. Mahmood 1 *, Abdalbasit A. Mariod 2 , Fouad Al-Bayaty 3 and Siddig Ibrahim Abdel-Wahab 4 1 Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2 Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Agricultural Studies, Sudan University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 71, Khartoum North, Sudan. 3 Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University Technology Mara, 40000, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. Accepted 25 March, 2010 Several plants are used in folk medicine to treat gastrointestinal disorders. Gynura procumbens is a medicinal plant commonly used in traditional treatment of many aliments. In this study, G. procumbens ethanolic leaf extract (GPELE) was used to investigate its gastroprotective effect in adult Sprague dawley rats which were divided into six groups. The rats were orally pre-treated with carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) solution (ulcer control groups), omeprazole 20 mg/kg (reference group), 50, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg of GPELE in CMC solution (experimental groups), one hour before oral administration of absolute ethanol to generate gastric mucosal injury. After an additional hour, the rats were sacrificed and the ulcer areas of the gastric walls were determined. The ulcer control group exhibited severe mucosal injury, whereas groups pre-treated with GPELE exhibited significant protection of gastric mucosal injury. These findings were also confirmed by histological studies. Acute toxicity study with a higher dose of 5 g/kg did not manifest any toxicological signs in rats. These results suggest that GPELE promotes ulcer protection as ascertained grossly by significant reduction of ulcer area, and histologically by comparatively decreases in ulcer areas, reduction or absence of edema and leucocytes infiltration of submucosal layer compared to ulcer control group. Key words: Gynura procumbens, cytoprotection, gastric ulcer, histology, ethanolic extract. INTRODUCTION Gastric ulcer is an illness that affects a considerable number of people worldwide. The etiological factors of this disorder include: stress, smoking, nutritional defi- ciencies, infections, frequent and indiscriminate use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (Khazaei and Salehi, 2006). The pathogenesis of gastro-duodenal ulcers is influenced by various aggressive and defensive factors, such as mucus secretion, mucosal barrier, acid- pepsin secretion, blood flow, cellular regeneration and endogenous protective agents (Mizui et al., 1987). Although the introduction of proton-pump inhibitors to the classic anti-ulcer therapy had revolutionized treatment *Corresponding author. E-mail: ammeen@um.edu.my. Fax: +6003 79676600. of peptic ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders, there is still no complete cure for this disease. It has been shown that long term use of these drugs may be associated with ineffectiveness of different drug regimens and even resistance to drugs are emerging (Al-Mofleh et al., 2007). Thus, there is an urgent need to identify more effective and safe anti-ulcer agents. A widespread search has been launched to identify new anti-ulcer therapies from natural sources. Herbs, medicinal plants, spices, vegetables and crude drug substances are considered to be a potential source to combat various diseases including gastric ulcer. In the scientific literature, a large number of medicinal plants with gastric anti-ulcer potential have been reported (Al- Mofleh et al., 2008; Devi et al., 2008; Coelho et al., 2009). G. procumbens (Merr.) which is known in Malaysia as “Sambung nyawa.” is widely distributed in South East