Investigation of anti-ulcer activity of Ficus bengalensis Linn bark in laboratory animals

Ficus bengalensis (Moraceae) is commonly known as a Banyan tree and Vada tree in Ayurveda. The plant is a large evergreen tree distributed almost all over the world and is used medicinally for treatment of different disorder. The present study was performed to evaluate the anti-ulcer activity of hydro-alcoholic extract of bark of Ficus bengalensis against ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury in rats and pylorus ligation gastric secretion in rats. The freshly prepared hydro-alcoholic extract (Methanol70%+Water30%) was qualitatively tested for the presence of major phytochemical constituents which revealed the presence of flavonoids, saponins sugar and tannins. For evaluation of antiulcer activity five groups of adult wistar rats were orally pre-treated respectively with carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) solution (ulcer control group), Omeprazole 20 mg/kg (reference group), and 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg extract in CMC solution (experimental groups), one hour before oral administration of absolute ethanol to generate gastric mucosal injury. Rats were sacrificed and the ulcer index, gastric volume, gastric pH, free acidity, total acidity of the gastric content was determined. Grossly, the ulcer control group exhibited severe mucosal injury, whereas pre-treatment extract exhibited significant protection of gastric mucosal injury in both the models. Histological studies revealed that ulcer control group exhibited severe damage of gastric mucosa, along with edema and leucocytes infiltration of submucosal layer compared to rats pre-treated with extract which showed gastric mucosal protection, reduction or absence of edema and leucocytes infiltration of submucosal layer. Acute toxicity study did not manifest any toxicological signs in rats. The present finding suggests that F. bengalensis bark extract promotes ulcer protection as ascertained großly and histologically compared to the ulcer control group which may be attributed to the presence of flavonoids or saponins.