Medicinal plants from Argentina with gastro protective activity

gastric ulcer model in mice: Aloysia gratissima, Artemisia annua, Calendula officinalis, Gaillardia megapotamica, Maytenus ilicifolia, Parthenium hysterophorus, Portulaca oleracea, Rumex obtusifolius, Solanum eleagnifolium, Solidago chilensis and Spartium junceum. The results were expressed in terms of an Ulcer Index (UI), based on the measurement of the length of the gastric lesions produced. Pharmacological assays demonstrated that aqueous extracts from all the plants, administered in oral form, showed significant antiulcerogenic activity (P < 0.01). It has already been established that among other compounds, the flavonoids possess, gastro protective properties. As some of the aqueous extracts contain these constituents, the partial antiulcer activity found could be attributed to their presence. The mechanism involved in this effect has not been entirely elucidated and as a first stage in its analysis, extracts should be fractionated in order to better determine the role of each component.