Malondialdehyde and SOD-induced changes of gastric tissues in acute gastric mucosal injury under positive acceleration

The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of positive acceleration (+Gz) on the gastric mucosal tissues in cases of acute gastric mucosal injury and to explore the role of oxygen free radicals. Thirty Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into the absolute ethanol control group (A group), absolute ethanol +5Gz group (B group), absolute ethanol +10Gz group (C group). Following centrifugation, the gastric tissues of each group were studied for the presence of gastric mucosal injuries and morphological changes. The concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) contents were simultaneously investigated. Degree of gastric mucosal injuries were as follows: C group (visually 49.080 1+/- 0.254, under light microscopy 9.400 +/- 2.011) > B group (visually 23.654 +/- 9.678, under light microscopy 5.000 +/- 1.054) > A group (visually 11.410 +/- 3.742, under light microscopy 3.800 +/- 1.399). The gastric mucosal MDA content (0.376 +/- 0.084 vs 0.235 +/- 0.044) was significantly higher in the C group than in the A group, whereas the SOD content (8.852 +/- 1.001 vs 10.694 +/- 0.965) was lower than that in the A group. However, the MDA and SOD contents did not change much in the B group. Our results suggest that the +Gz exposure might aggravate the acute gastric mucosal injury, and changes in MDA and SOD contents in the gastric tissues indicated that the oxygen free radicals play an important role in this regard.