Endothelin and neonatal capsaicin regulate gastric resistance to injury in BDL rats

Figure 1 Ethanol-induced gastric damage in bile duct-ligated rats compared to controls. Gastric damage induced by EtOH-40% was significantly (P < 0.05) reduced in bile duct-ligated (BDL) and control rats submitted to endothelin-3 or ET_B receptor antagonist (BQ788) pretreatment, but not after endothelin-1 or ET_A receptor antagonist (BQ485) pretreatment. ^aSignificant difference compared to vehicle-treated control rats (P < 0.05).

Figure 2 Gastric damage in bile duct-ligated rats after endothelin-3 and endothelin B receptor antagonist pretreatment. A: Vehicle; B Endothelin-3; C: BQ788.

Figure 3 Gastric blood flow responses to topical application of 40% ethanol followed by HCl in control and bile duct-ligated rats. ET_B receptor antagonist (BQ788) pretreatment increased significantly (^aP < 0.05) the responsiveness of the gastric microcirculation to ethanol followed by the acid solution in bile duct-ligated (BDL) rats, while ET_A receptor antagonist (BQ485) had no changes.

Figure 4 Gastric endothelin-1 and endothelin-3 expression in control and bile duct-ligated rats relative to the internal housekeeping gene, GAPDH, and expressed as densitometry units. ^aSignificant difference compared to respectively control and bile duct ligation (BDL) vehicle-treated rats (P < 0.05).

Figure 5 Gastric endothelin-1 and -3 synthetic capacity as measured by ELISA. Gastric endothelin (ET)-1 production was increased (P < 0.05) in vehicle- relative to capsaicin-treated bile duct ligation (BDL) rats. ^aSignificant difference compared to respective controls (P < 0.05).