Abstract

Typhonium flagelliforme (Araceae) is an indigenous medicinal plant of Malaysiawhich is endowed with curative properties against a variety of illness including injuries, oedema, coughs, pulmonary ailments, bleeding and cancer. In this study,T. flagelliforme aqueous leaf extract was used to investigate its gastroprotective effect in adult Sprague Dawley rats which were divided into four groups. The rats were orally pre-treated with sterile distilled water (ulcer control groups), omeprazole 20 mg/kg (reference group), 250 and 500 mg/kg of T. flagelliforme(experimental groups) one hour before oral administration of absolute ethanol to generate gastric mucosal injury. After an additional hour, the rats were sacrificed and the ulcer areas of the gastric walls were determined. The ulcer control group exhibited severe mucosal injury, whereas groups pre-treated with T. flagelliforme extracts exhibited significant protection of gastric mucosal injury. These finding were also confirmed by histological studies. These results suggest that T. flagelliforme promotes ulcer protection as ascertained grossly by significant reduction of ulcer area and histology by comparatively decreases in ulcer areas, reduction or absence of edema and leucocytes infiltration of submucosal layer compared to ulcer control group.

Key words: Typhonium flagelliforme, rodent tuber, gastric ulcer, histology, aqueous extract.