EVALUATION OF ANTIULCER ACTIVITY OF WEDELIA CALENDULACEA AQUEOUS EXTRACT IN RODENTS

The present study was focused to evaluate the protective activity of the Wedelia calendulacea (WC) whole plant aqueous extract against aspirin-pylorus ligation, HCl-ethanol and water immersion stress induced ulcers. In the present study aspirin-pylorus ligation induced gastric ulcer was adopted to screen the antisecretory activity of plant extract. WC extract produced 61.76% ulcer inhibition at 400mg/kg body weight, when compared to that of standard (ranitidine, 50mg/kg) which produced 62.6% ulcer inhibition. In HCl-ethanol induced ulcer model 400mg/kg body weight of WC produced 88.87% ulcer inhibition when compared that of standard (sucralfate, 100mg/kg) which produced 90.80% ulcer inhibition. In water immersion-stress induced ulcer model 400mg/kg body weight of WC, produced 96.34% ulcer inhibition when compared to that of standard (omeprazole, 20mg/kg) which produced 99.30% ulcer inhibition. WC showed significant percentage of ulcer inhibition in the three models tested. The glycosides which are present in the aqueous extract could be responsible for their antiulcer properties