Abstract 658
Clinical Research in Developing Countries Poster Symposium, Sunday, 5/2
INTRODUCTION: Sangre de Grado is a traditional medicine of various ethnic groups of the Amazon River basin. Sangre de Grado is a red, latexy tree sap that is applied to the skin for the treatment of cuts, bites, abrasions for its remarkable wound healing properties. Sangre de Grado is also diluted and taken orally for the treatment of severe gastrointestinal distress and cancer. There have been no reports validating the ethnomedical evidence that Sangre de Grado offers benefit in the management of gastric ulcers, and for this reason we conducted a series of experiments in rats and in vitro. METHODS: Experimental gastric ulcers were induced in Sprague -Dawley rats by brief topical application of acetic acid to the serosal surface of the stomach of anesthetized rats. This results in a transmural inflammation and an ulcer of a defined size, which takes up to three weeks to heal. Sangre de Grado, sap from Croton palagnostigma, was included in the drinking water post-surgically at dilutions of 1:1000 to 1:30,000 fold to mimic ethnomedical use. After 7 days, rats were euthanized and ulcer size measured (gross and histological measurements), along with determinations of myeloperoxidase activity (MPO) and bacterial counts in the ulcer. Antibacterial activity of Sangre de Grado in vitro was determined against E. coli.
