Inhibitory effects of simultaneously applied lafutidine with NSAIDs on formation of gastric mucosal lesions in rats

Objective: Lafutidine is a novel H₂ receptor antagonist with gastric antisecretory and gastro-protective activities as well as stimulatory activity on vanilloid receptor. We examined the influence of lafutidine, teprenone and misoprostol on acute gastric mucosal lesions induced by NSAIDs (diclofenac and aspirin) in rats to compare their efficiency in the case of simultaneous application with NSAIDs. Methods: Rats, fasted for 24h, were given orally lafutidine (3,10, 30mg/ kg), teprenone (10, 30, 100mg/kg) or misoprostol (0.3mg/kg) with aspirin (300mg/kg) or diclofenac (40mg/kg). The mucosal lesion length (mm) was measured. Results: Aspirin and diclofenac caused acute gastric mucosal lesions in gastric corpus at 6h later. Lafutidine dose- dependently and significantly prevented the development of gastric lesions. Misoprostol also strongly inhibited the development of gastric lesions, while teprenone showed no protective effect. Conclusion: Simultaneous application of lafutidine or misoprostol, but not teprenone, with NSAIDs efficiently protected the gastric lesions.