Effect of Prednisolone on Gastric Mucus Content and on Ulcer Formation

Abstract

Prednisolone, administered subcutaneously to rats, produced gastric ulcers and reduced the mucus of gastric juice and tissue. Determination of hexosamine was used as a measure of mucus. Ulcers were limited to the corpus and never appeared in the antrum. The antrum was found to contain twice as much mucus as the corpus. Gastric juice acidity was markedly reduced. These data favor a hypothesis ascribing a protecting role to mucus in the natural defense of the gastric mucosa against ulcerogenic agents. Steroid ulcers may be explained by a diminution of gastric mucus.