Lansoprazole is effective in healing non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs induced ulcers, and antioxidant properties have been thought to play a key role in healing ulcers. We hypothesize that lansoprazole exerts a cytoprotective effect by inhibiting reactive oxygen species leakage from mitochondria and lipid peroxidation. We pretreated gastric epithelial RGM1 cells with lansoprazole and then treated them with indomethacin in vitro. We found that the lansoprazole pretreatment significantly reduced cellular injury, maintained mitochondrial transmembrane potential, and decreased lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, the signal intensity of the electron spin resonance spectrum of the indomethacin-treated mitochondria which were pretreated with lansoprazole showed considerable reduction compared to those without the lansoprazole pretreatment. These results suggest that lansoprazole reduced superoxide production in the mitochondria of indomethacin treated cells, and subsequently inhibited lipid peroxide and cellular injury in gastric epithelial cells.
Keywords: electron spin resonance; indomethacin; lansoprazole; lipid peroxidation; superoxide.