Anti-Ulcer Activities of Medicinal Plants and Natural Products

Gynura Procumbens (Lour.) Merr. (Asteraceae)

The genus Gynura comprises of around 44 species. G. procumbens is traditionally used in many regions for the treatment of ailments like rashes, eruptive fever, migraines, kidney diseases, hypertension, viral skin diseases, diabetes mellitus, constipation, rheumatism and urinary tract infection (Afandi et al., 2014). A few of these traditional prerogatives have been corroborated in pharmacological studies, including use as anti-inflammatory, anti-hypertensive, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-herpes virus and anti-hyperlipidemic medicines. G. procumbens leaves extract showed a number of active chemical constituents including terpenoids, flavonoids, sterol glycosides, saponins and tannins. Mahmood et al., (2010) demonstrated anti-ulcerogenic activity by ethanolic extract of its leaves. They emphasized that it gave a gastro-protective effect in adult rats used in their study. Leaves of G. procumbens have shown to protect the gastric mucosa significantly against ethanol-induced injuries. The protection was found to be dose dependent, most prominent protection at a dose of 400 mg/kg as established by the reduction of ulcer zones in the gastric wall, reduction in the inhibition of edema and reduced leukocytes infiltration in the sub-mucosal layers (Mou & Dash, 2016).