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ABSTRACT
Gastric ulcers affect many people around the world and their development is as a result of imbalance between aggressive and protective factors in the gastric mucosa. Pleurotus tuberregium, commonly known as the king tuber mushroom, has attracted the interest of the scientific community due to its pharmacological properties and its potential therapeutic applications. In this study, the antiulcer effects of the ethanol extract of the sclerotia from Pleurotus tuberregium against ethanol induced ulcer were evaluated in female wistar rats (100g – 180g body weight). Four groups of animals were set up (n ═ 4) for each group. Group 1 received distilled water, Group II received the standard ulcer drug cimetidine 50mg/kg body weight, Group III received 250mg/kg body weight of the extract and Group IV received 500mg/kg body weight of the extract. The animals were pre-treated before induction of ulcer with absolute ethanol. Various parameters such as haematology, ulcer index, percentage inhibition and histopathology were studied in all the groups. Pre-treatment with the extract showed increase in the percentage inhibition and decrease in ulcer index. The haematological result showed significant differences P<0.05 only in mean corpuscular hemoglobin count (MCH) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) count. The histopathology result also revealed that the extract at 250mg/kg body weight dose has potent anti-ulcer effect compared to the standard drug. From this result, it was clearly shown that the sclerotia from Pleurotus tuberregium has potent anti-ulcer activities. This research provides information on using the mushroom to develop ulcer healing drugs.
