ABSRACT
Ethanol, a type of alcohol which is used as a preservatives in most edible foods and one of the constituents in most alcoholic beverages has been found to be one of the causes of gastric ulcer. The aim of this study is to access the protective role of aqueous extract of Phoenix dactylifera L(datepalm) fruits on ethanol-induced gastric ulcer in adult Wistar rats. Examining the effect of ethanol and Phoenix dactylifera L on the body weight, stomach weight, total blood count and stomach histology are my primary goals in this research. Twenty (20) adult Wistar rats was used in this experiment and they were split into four groups; Group A, a control group, Group B given 1ml of 80% ethanol only, Group C given 2500mg/kg of Phoenix dactylifera L and 1ml of 80% ethanol and Group D given 2500mg/kg Phoenix dactylifera L only. The animals were allowed to acclimatize for a period of 13days before the commencement of the experiment. Phoenix dactylifera L fruits was gotten from Oba market, Ringroad in Benin city. The extract was prepared by maceration method. The experiments lasted for a period of 28days and on the 29th day the animals were sacrificed under choloroform anesthesia. The stomach was harvested for histological procedures. Blood was also taken for haematological study. The histological observation showed that ethanol induced a flask shaped ulcer in the stomach. The pretreatment with Phoenix dactylifera L was able to protect the gastric mucosa from the devitalizing and ulcerogenic effect of ethanol. The haematological study showed that there was a significant decrease in white blood cells (WBC), lymphocytes and monocytes in group of rats treated with Phoenix dactylifera L only when compared to control group. Also there was a significant increase in red blood cells, hemoglobin and hematocrit in rats in group B and group C when compared with control group. However there was no significant difference in granulocytes, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, RDWS, RDWC, platelet, mean platelet volume, plateletcrit, platelet distribution width and PL-CR, across all groups(B, C, D) when compared with control group. Therefore Phoenix dactylifera L had a protective effect on the gastric mucosa against gastric damage such ulcer cased by the ethanol.
