Water extract of Artemisia asiatica protects ethanol-induced gastric injury

The leaves of Artemisia asiatica are used clinically in Traditional Korean Medicine as the treatment of digestive disorder, abdominal pain, and anorexia. To treat the diseases, A. asiatica is extracted with water at boiling point and administered orally. However, the water extract of A. asiatica was yet to be studied to have the gastroprotective effects, although the ethanol extract was already known. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of the clinical remedy, which is water extract, as well as ethanol extract. Gastrohemorrhagic lesion was experimentally created by oral intubation of 80% ethanol containing 0.15mol/L HCl to the rats. The rats were divided into six groups consisting normal group, the water extract treating (100 and 300mg/kg, p.o.) groups, the ethanol extract treating (100 and 300mg/kg, p.o.) groups, and positive control group using cimetidine (100mg/kg, p.o.). Samples were administered 30 minutes before EtOH-HCl. The rats were sacrificed an hour later and the gastrohemorrhagic lesion was measured. The treatment with water extract 300mg/kg significantly reduced the gastrohemorrhagic lesion by 86.0% (p<0.001) as compared to the control group. These results suggest that A. asiatica extracted with water, clinical remedy, is available to treat gastritis as the ethanol extract.