Many Aristolochia species herbal drugs, used for diseases treatment since antiquity, contain active component aristolochic acid mixture, which consists of aristolochic acid I and II. However, it remains unclear whether aristolochic acid I is gastrotoxic, though evidence has shown that aristolochic acid mixture is nephrotoxic, carcinogenic, and genotoxic. The present study aimed to investigate the gastrotoxicity in rats treated with aristolochic acid I alone. Four groups of rats were orally administrated with vehicle (1% NaHCO3), or 30 mg, 60 mg, and 90 mg/kg/day of aristolochic acid I for twelve days. The results showed that aristolochic acid I can induce obvious body weight loss, forestomach injury characterized by necrosis, ulcer, hyperkeratosis, and hyperplasia of epithelial cells. The severity of these forestomach lesions was presented in a dose-dependent mode. Meanwhile, only non-specific, slight renal tubule degeneration, and occasionally single necrotic epithelial cell were found in aristolochic acid I treated rats' kidney. These resulst indicated aristolochic acid I had obvious gastrotoxicity, and such aristolochic acid I-induced forestomach toxicity probably presented much prior to kidney injury. Such irritation lesions may play a partial role in gastric cancer development of rats induced by aristolochic acid. Therefore, these results expanded our understanding on the digestive system toxicity of aristolochic acid I. (C) 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
[1]Shanghai Univ Tradit Chinese Med, Ctr Drug Safety Evaluat & Res, Room 1403,1 Bldg,Cai Lun Rd, Shanghai 201203, Peoples R China.
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