Tyagi, S. P.Suresh, Shastri Piyush2019-02-042019-02-042014-04-07http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810093545The study was conducted in 2 phases on 24 adult healthy medium sized mongrel dogs divided into 6 equal groups. In phase 1, Inj. Dexamethasone @ 1mg/kg, IV, b.i.d. was administered in all the animals until a predetermined severity of GUE was achieved and thereafter phase 2 commenced in which animals were subjected to no treatment, lansoprazole @1.5mg/kg, Seabuckthorn seed oil @1ml/dog, 40% Aloe vera pulp @ 5ml/dog, Lansoprazole @1.5mg/kg + 1ml Seabuckthorn seed oil and 4ml of 40% Aloe vera pulp + 1ml seabuckthorn seed oil p.o. b.i.d. till complete healing of GUE lesions. The progression of GUE was evaluated by gastro-endoscopic, clinical, fecal occult blood test, hematological and biochemical examinations at regular intervals. Gastro-endoscopic examinations revealed that by 10th day, 58.38% dogs reached the desired GUE index. Clinical examinations revealed a slight fluctuation in rectal temperature, heart rate and respiration rate but well within the normal limits. It accompanied 12.53% loss in body weight. Subjective assessment revealed a general lack of activity, reduced appetite (n=16/24) and occasional vomiting (n=5/24). The severity of gastric lesions evidenced endoscopically co-related well with melena observed in the dogs from 7th to 16th day with maximum severity on the 10th day (16/19) and there onwards. There was direct correlation between presence of gastric bleeding and positive fecal occult blood test. Haematological studies revealed a marked decrease in Hb, PCV, TEC, monocytes and lymphocytes. TLC and granulocytes exhibited significant increase on all observation intervals. Gastro-endoscopically, complete healing of GUE lesions during phase 2 was earliest in group 5 (combination of lansoprazole with seabuckthorn oil) at 7.5 days followed by group 2 (lansoprazole) at 9.0 days, group 1 (negative control) at 9.75 days, groups 3 and 6 (SBT oil and combination of SBT oil + Aloe vera) at 10.5 days, and the longest in group 6 (Aloe vera) at 14.25 days respectively. The severity of melena gradually decreased towards the end of study in all the groups with the animals of groups 5 and 3 showing earliest signs of improvement. Fecal occult blood test was positive in all the animals till there was endoscopic evidence of gastric bleeding. This test was found sensitive in diagnosing subclinical gastric bleeding. Clinical and haematological parameters improved markedly towards the end of phase 2. AST, ALT, BUN, creatinine and total protein remained within normal physiological limits throughout the study. It is concluded that the combination of Lansoprazole with SBT seed oil has synergistic therapeutic efficacy in dexamethasone-induced GUE in dogs, as it results in faster healing when compared with either of them used alone.ennullThesis