Researchers explore the therapeutic effects of Achillea wilhelmsii

Iranian researchers investigated the therapeutic effects of Achillea wilhelmsii (AW) extract on indomethacin-induced gastric lesion in rats, from both proteomic and metabolomic perspectives. Their findings listed below were published in the BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

• Gastric ulcer is one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide.
• In Iranian folk medicine, AW is used to treat gastric ulcer.
• Previous studies have found that AW also has anti-ulcerogenic properties.
• For their experiment, the researchers divided rats into four groups and induced gastric ulcer using a single dose of indomethacin (45 mg/kg).
• They then administered 800 mg/kg of the AW extract orally to one group for 10 days.
• The researchers collected serum and tissue samples for further investigation and conducted spectrometric analyses for the metabolomic study.
• For the proteomic analysis, they conducted 2D gel electrophoresis followed by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry.
• Relevant genes were confirmed using real time PCR.
• Both macroscopic and microscopic investigations confirmed the effectiveness of the AW extract.
• The researchers reported that a panel of metabolites showed altered expression levels during gastric lesion development.
• The levels of some of these metabolites returned to nearly their normal values after the administration of the AW extract.
• The researchers also observed changes in the levels of some proteins, including albumin, fatty acid-binding protein 5 (Fabp5), heat shock protein beta-1 (Hspb1), transgelin (Tagln), galectin-7 (Lgals7), cystatin-A (Csta) and myosin regulatory light polypeptide-9 (Myl9).
• AW treatment reversed the changes in the levels of these proteins caused by the gastric lesion formation.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that A. wilhelmsii is a potential therapy for indomethacin-induced gastric lesions.

Read the full study at this link.

Journal Reference:

Koushki M, Farrokhi Yekta R, Amiri-Dashatan N, Dadpay M, Goshadrou F. THERAPEUTIC EFFECTS OF HYDRO-ALCOHOLIC EXTRACT OF ACHILLEA WILHELMSII C. KOCH ON INDOMETHACIN-INDUCED GASTRIC ULCER IN RATS: A PROTEOMIC AND METABOLOMIC APPROACH. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 07 August 2019;19(1). DOI: 10.1186/s12906-019-2623-4