Therapeutic effects of hydro-alcoholic extract of Achillea wilhelmsii C. Koch on indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer in rats: a proteomic and metabolomic approach

BACKGROUND: Gastric ulcer is one of the most prevalent diseases worldwide. In Iranian folk medicine, Achillea wilhelmsii (AW) is used as a treatment for gastric ulcer. Previous reports also mentioned Antiulcerogenic properties for this herbal plant. This study investigated the therapeutic effects of Achillea wilhelmsii C. Koch extract on indomethacin-induced gastric lesion in rats, from both proteomic and metabolomic perspectives. METHODS: The rats were divided into 4 groups. Gastric ulceration was induced by a single dose of indomethacin (45 mg/kg) by oral gavage. An amount of 800 mg/kg of AW extract was administered orally. Serum and tissue samples were collected for further investigations. The metabolomic study was performed by (1)H-NMR CPMG spectrometry. Proteomic analysis was also executed by using two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) followed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI/MS/MS). Real time PCR was used to confirm some of the genes. RESULTS: The macroscopic and microscopic investigations confirmed the effectiveness of the AW extract. There was a panel of metabolites which showed alteration during gastric lesion development. The levels of some of these metabolite reversed nearly to their control values after the administration of AW extract. There were also changes in the levels of some proteins including Alb, Fabp5, Hspb1, Tagln, Lgals7, Csta and Myl9 which were reversed after AW administration. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggested that Achillea wilhelmsii C. Koch extract could be a potential therapy to be used for indomethacin-induced gastric lesion treatment in the future. However, further investigations are needed to confirm the results. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12906-019-2623-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.