Anti-Gastritis Activity of Cloves (Eugenia caryophyllata Thunberg) and Lime (Citrus aurantifolia) Leaf Extracts Combination in Absolute Alcohol Induced-Gastric Injury Mice

Background: Clove (Eugenia caryophyllata Thunberg) and lime (Citrus aurantifolia) are medicinal plants traditionally used to treat various diseases such as gastritis. Some studies reported that cloves leaf and lime leaf extract showed a gastroprotective effect by decreasing the gastric acid secretion and increasing the gastric mucus. Aim: This study aims to investigate the anti-gastritis activity of the combination of ethanolic extract of cloves leaf and lime leaf extract in alcohol absolute-induced mice. Methods: Mice were treated with the combination extract 0.7 g/kg BW, 1.4 g/kg BW, and 2.8 g/kg BW. Famotidine was used as a positive control, and Na CMC suspension was used as a negative control. After 45 minutes of oral administration, 0.14 ml/20g BW alcohol absolute was given to all mice. All groups were sacrificed one hour later. The evaluation showed that extract combination in all doses significantly decreased ulcer index (UI) compared to a negative control group (p<0.005) in macroscopic evaluation. Results: In histopathologic evaluation, all doses significantly decreased mucosal edema and epithelial cell loss (p<0.005), but in gastric bleeding evaluation, only 0.7 and 1.4 g/kg BW doses showed a significant decrease. Conclusion: This study showed that a combination of clove and lime leaf extracts has anti-gastritis activity and could be a possible therapeutic of anti-gastritis. The most effective dose is 1.4 g/kg BW in mice which showed the lowest ulcer index and gastric mucosal edema, bleeding and epithelial cells loss reduction on histopathological observation.