Effects of Infrared Rays on Chronic Atrophic Gastritis in Rats

BACKGROUND: Recently. Chinese herb and comprehensive therapy are widely adopted for the treatment of chronic ‘atrophic gastritis (CAG), while infrared ray is widely used in the fields of physical therapy and scientific research, Therefore, some scholars suggest whether the physical characteristics of infrared ray have effects on the treatment of chronic atrophic gastritis. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of infrared ray on the changes of gastric mucosa tissue in rat models with chronic atrophic gastritis. DESIGN: Randomized controlled observation. SETTING: Hebei North University. MATERIALS: Thirty-five adult Wistar male rats weighing from 180 to 230 g were purchased from Hebei Experimental Animal Center [SCXK (ji) 2003-1-003]. The experiment was disposed with the ethical standard. Sodium salicylate powder produced by Beijing Fangcao Chemical Company (batch number: 890720). The drug was prepared with distilled water. Infrared lamp (220V, 200W) was bought by Equipment Division of our college. METHODS: The experiment was carried out in the Experimental Center of Hebei Beifang College from June 2005 to January 2006. ①Experimental intervention: Rats were fed with conventional standard granules for one week. Among them, 8 rats were selected as the normal control group, and other rats underwent model establishment. Rats were perfused with sodium salicylate and alcohol to stimulate gastric mucosa, and then chronic CAG models were established for 8 weeks based on exertion, irregular diet and other factors. Five rats were randomly selected for the check of histopathology before the end of model confirmedly making, and then the model rats were randomly divided into model group and infrared group with 11 in each group. Infrared lamp (220 V, 200 W, 0.76-1.5 μm in wavelength) was used to vertically radiate at the gastric projective area of rats in the infrared group, once a day, ten minutes once for twenty days. The rats in normal group and model group were regularly breed. ② Experimental evaluation: The body mass was weighed every week in 1, 4, 9 and 12 weeks after modeling. The infiltration of inflammatory cells and thickness of gastric mucosa were obsered under optic microscope. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: ①Changes of body mass; ② pathohistological changes of gastric mucosa. RESULTS: All 30 rats were involved in the final analysis. ① Changes of body mass: From the end of the 4(superscript th) week, increasing percentage of body mass in the model group and infrared group was decreased gradually as compared with that in the normal group, and there was significant difference (P＜0.05). ②Pathohistological changes of gastric mucosa: Gastric mucosa of rats in the model group was thinner, and atrophic glands, notable inflammatory infiltration and partial intestinal metaplasia were observed under optic microscope. The thickness of gastric mucosa in the infrared group was significantly thicker than that in model control group, and there was significant difference (P＜0.01): the inflammatory cells in the infrared group were less than those in the model group, and there was significant difference (P＜0.05). Morphologic structure and volume of the parietal cells were all recuperated or closed to normal. CONCLUSION: Infrared ray can decrease thickness of gastric mucosa and reduce inflammatory cells of rats with chronic atrophic gastritis, and it has greatly therapeutic achievements.