Abstract:
The majority of Ethiopian population relies on traditional remedies and some of which may also have nutritional value. Trigonella foenum-gracum infusion and Linum usitatissimum water extract are used to manage peptic ulcer. This traditional practice supplements the modern medicine and fills the gap where the latter appears to be inadequate, ineffective or costly. However, the safety and efficacy of these remedies are not well known. The aim of this study is, therefore, to screen the aqueous extract of T. foenum-gracum and L. usitatissimum seeds for their anti-ulcer activity with the acute toxicity evaluation. The results indicated that both aqueous T. foenum-gracum and L. usitatissimum seed extracts reduced the ulcer index and ulcer number of ethanol induced lesions (P<0.001). The extracts showed dose dependent anti-ulcer activity. Similarly, T. foenum-gracum and L. usitatissimum extracts protected the indomethacin-induced gastric mucosal damage dose dependently. Per oral LD50 of both extracts was greater than 2000mg/kg whereas the intraperitoneal LD50 of the aqueous extract of T. foenumgracum and L. usitatissimum seeds were found to be 4677.4 and 1698.2 mg/kg, respectively. From the present study it can be concluded that the aqueous extracts of T. foenum-gracum and L. usitatissimum have anti-ulcer effect supporting their claimed traditional use. They also appear safe at the anti-ulcer doses. However, further studies are required before the extracts are used as medicine.
