Tithonia diversifolia is a medicinal plant from the Municipality of Suchiapa, Chiapas, Mexico, that according to local
folk medicine is considered useful in the treatment of
gastric ulcers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the gastroprotective activity of T. diversifolia by using an
ethanol-induced
gastric ulcer experimental model in male Wistar rats. The results showed that T. diversifolia had gastroprotective activity, and that the
dichloromethane extract had the highest protective activity (close to 90% when using doses between 10 to 100 mg/kg), and that further the compound
tagitinin C isolated from this extract was the main active gastroprotective agent. Rats treated with
tagitinin C suspended in
Tween 80 at 1, 3, 10 and 30 mg/kg showed 37.7, 70.1, 100, and 100% gastroprotection, respectively. The effect elicited by
tagitinin C (30 mg/kg) was not attenuated by pretreatment with either
N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (70 mg/kg, i.p.), a
nitric oxide (
NO) synthase inhibitor,
N-ethylmaleimide (10 mg/kg, s.c.), a blocker of sulfhydryl groups, or
indomethacin (10 mg/kg, s.c.), a blocker of
prostaglandin synthesis, which suggests that the gastroprotective mechanism of action of this
sesquiterpene lactone does not involve NO, sulfhydryl groups or
prostaglandins.