Herbal Cramp Bark(Viburnum opulus), the Natural and Potential Gastroduodenoprotective Remedy

By Kyle J. Norton

The digestive system included the gastrointestinal tract, the liver, pancreas, and gallbladder plays a critical role to maintain the body normal function by providing nutrients and fluids to the body and remove waste through the secretary system.

The gastric mucosa is the mucous membrane layer of the stomach that plays a critical role in providing physical protection against ingested particles and preventing the contact between digestive enzymes such as pepsin and the underlying mucosa.

On the other hand, the gastric mucosal barrier protects the stomach against gastric acid that is required for digestion.

Dr, Lawson HH. in the classification of the different histologic types of the normal human duodenal mucosa suggested that there are antral type-duodenal mucosa, the transitional-type duodenal mucosa, and the jejunal-type duodenal mucosa.

The three different types of mucosa vary in their degree of susceptibility to the effect of acid hypersecretion, leading to duodenitis and gastritis and worsens the condition of ulcer.

The function of duodenum mucosa is to increase its surface area that contacts with chyme passing through the intestinal lumen and improves the absorption of nutrients.

Abnormal duodenal mucosa can lead to acute and chronic duodenal ulcers.

Cramp Bark is an ornamental plant, genus Viburnum, belonging to the family Adoxaceae, native to Europe and Asia. It has been used in traditional and herbal medicine as anti-spasmodic, anti-inflammatory, nervine. hypotensive agent and to treat menstrual cramps and pain, afterbirth, postpartum pains, excessive blood loss in periods, bleeding associated with the menopause, etc.

On finding a potential herbal medicine for the protection of the digestive function, researchers examined the gastrointestinal mucosal defense mechanisms of proanthocyanidins (PA), the polymers of flavan-3-ols, isolated from the Viburnum opulus (VOPA, Caprifoliaceae).

According to the tested assays of rats exposed to non-topical ulcerogens (stress) without and with capsaicin (125 mg/kg, sc) denervation, VOPA showed strong effects in the promotion of the gastroduodenal mucosal integrity and pattern, observed by the carbohydrate-binding proteins and nitric oxide (NO) content that protects the intact mucosa.

The levels of antioxidant enzymes produced by the tested rats such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were also significantly higher in the VOPA group at doses of 25, 50 or 75 mg/kg body weight.

In other words, VOPA inhibited lipid peroxidation by enhancing the production of antioxidant enzymes produced by the host.

Based on the findings, researchers said, "VOPA exerts a potent gastroduodenoprotective activity via an increase in endogenous NO generation, suppression of lipid peroxidation and mobilization of antioxidant activity and changes in glycoconjugate content of the gastroduodenal mucosa of rats".

Taken altogether, cramp bark(Viburnum opulus)  may process the gastroduodenoprotective effects, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Influence of Viburnum opulus proanthocyanidins on stress-induced gastrointestinal mucosal damage by Zayachkivska OS1, Gzhegotsky MR, Terletska OI, Lutsyk DA, Yaschenko AM, Dzhura OR. (PubMed)
(2) The duodenal mucosa in health and disease. A clinical and experimental study by Lawson HH. (PubMed)