Protective effect of silkworm pupa oil on hydrochloric acid/ethanol-induced gastric ulcers

BACKGROUND Silkworm pupae are a traditional Chinese food, rich in various saturated and unsaturated fatty acids. Unsaturated fatty acids have a certain protective effect against oxidative damage. The present study used an animal model to determine the protective effect of silkworm pupa oil on hydrochloric acid / ethanol-induced gastric ulcer. RESULTS Silkworm pupa oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, including palmitoleic acid 63.4 g kg(-1), oleic acid 249.1 g kg(-1), linoleic acid 47.0 g kg(-1), and linolenic acid 337.8 g kg(-1), whereas its unsaturated fatty acid content is 700 g kg(-1). Compared to a gastric ulcer control group, high and low doses of pupa oil reduced gastric ulcer area and gastric secretion, whereas gastric pH increased. It also increased serum antioxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) levels, somatostatin (SST), and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) levels, and reduced serum interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-12 (IL-12), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha), and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), motilin (MTL), and gastrin (GT) levels. RT-qPCR and western blot analyses indicated that silkworm pupa oil significantly increased CAT, GSH-Px, epidermal growth factor (EGF), Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), Cu/Zn-SOD, Mn-SOD, and NF-kappa-B inhibitor-alpha (I kappa B-alpha) expression and lowered nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B), B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression. CONCLUSION Silkworm pupa oil treatment reduced oxidative damage and inflammation in mice, and high-dose silkworm pupa oil was superior to low-dose silkworm pupa oil, following ranitidine. (c) 2018 Society of Chemical Industry