Sucralfate in the prevention of porcine experimental peptic ulceration

Sucralfate is the first drug to be shown to prevent ulceration in bile duct-ligated pigs. Usually such ulceration is uniformly fatal. Seven pigs in each of four groups in this study received only saline, or sucralfate (1 g every six hours), famotidine (40 mg per day), or misoprostol (200 μg every six hours). A Foley catheter was placed into a gastrectomy after bile duct ligation. Similar groups of sham-operated pigs were also prepared. After 48 hours, all saline-, famotidine-, or misoprostol-treated pigs showed severe macroscopic ulceration, whereas only two of those treated with sucralfate showed minimal macroscopic ulceration. Until now, only highly selective vagotomy has reduced ulceration caused by bile duct ligation. The present results suggest that acid inhibition is not the only important factor in healing bile duct ligation-induced peptic ulceration.