The present study was undertaken to evaluate the potential protective and therapeutic effect of curcumin (Cur) on
ethanol-induced gastritis in rats. Fourty male albino rats were divided into four groups. Group Ι: (Control group):
received no drugs. Group Π: (Gastritis non-treated group): administered with a single oral dose of 1 ml/rat of
absolute ethanol for gastritis induction. Group III: (Gastritis + Cur protected group): received Cur (100 mg/kg body
weight/day) orally for 14 days prior ethanol administration. Group IV: (Gastritis + Cur treated group) received Cur
as in group III and the treatment was continued for 7 days later. The obtained results showed a significant decrease
in serum nitric oxide (NO), sialic acid (SA), and gastric tissue GSH, vitamin C concentrations and GPX, SOD, GR and
CAT activities in gastritis induced rats. However, myeloperoxidase (MPO) and cyclooxygenase II (COX-2) activities,
NF-KB p65, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), L- Malondialdehyde
(L-MDA) and DNA-fragmentation were significantly increased. Administration of Cur was able to mitigate gastritis
induced by ethanol through increasing of NO, SA, GSH, vitamin C concentrations, GPx, SOD, GR, CAT activities in
addition to decreasing NF-KB p65, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, L-MDA, DNA-fragmentation and MPO as well as COX-2
activities. Furthermore, various pathological changes in gastric tissues were observed in gastritis induced rats.
Interestingly, the severity of these alterations was reduced in curcumin protected and treated groups with variable
degree. These results suggest that, Cur may be beneficial in treatment of gastritis by its radical scavenging and
antiapoptotic activity, reserved inflammation, oxidative stress and regulate NF-kappaB activation and attenuate the
severity of histopathological alterations in the gastric mucosa.