Antiulcer Drug

This invention relates to a novel antiulcer drug comprising Ikarugamycin as its active ingredient. Ikarugamycin is a compound whose pharmacological action has not yet been known at all except that it has been known merely as an antibiotic having a trichomonacidal effect and showing a weak antibacterial effect against gram positive bacteria.

The present inventors have made an intensive study on the pharmacological activity of Ikarugamycin and accomplished the present invention based on the finding that the compound exhibits an excellent antiulcer activity.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an antiulcer drug comprising as its active ingredient Ikarugamycin represented by the following formula (I): ##STR1##

Ikarugamycin used in the present invention is an acidic compound in the form of fine needles having a molecular formula of C.sub.29 H.sub.38 N.sub.2 O.sub.4 with a molecular weight of 478, melting point of 252.degree.-255.degree. C., soluble in various types of organic solvents and insoluble in water. It can be easily produced by the fermentation method disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 28833/1971.

The structural formula of Ikarugamycin is the following: ##STR2##

Antiulcer effects of Ikarugamycin are shown below.

(1) Effect Against Indomethacin-induced Ulcer

Several groups of 7 weeks old male Donryu rats, each weighing 180-200 g and each group consisting of 6 rats were provided and fasted over 48 hours, after which a specimen prepared by dissolving Ikarugamycin into saline incorporated with 5% dimethylsulfoxide was orally administered by a predetermined amount to each rat.

One hour later, Indomethacin was orally administered by 25 mg/kg and, 5 hours later, 2% Brilliant blue solution was intravenously injected to them and their stomachs were extracted. The stomachs were cut and opened to measure the major diameters of the ulcerated portions. The sum of the lengths (mm) was taken as an ulcer index.

The results are shown in Table 1.

(2) Effect Against Stress-induced Ulcer

Several groups of 7 weeks old male Donryu rats, each weighing 180-200 g and each group consisting of 6 rats were used. Specimen prepared by dissolving Ikarugamycin into saline incorporated with 5% dimethylsulfoxide was orally administered by a predetermined amount to each rat. The rats were held vertically and immersed neck-high in a bath of 23.degree. C. water for 24 hours. Thereafter, 2% Brilliant blue solution was intravenously injected to them and their stomachs were extracted to determine the ulcer index, which was obtained from the same procedures as in (1) shown above.

The results are shown in Table 2.

As mentioned in the above, Ikarugamycin shows an excellent inhibitive effect against the experimental ulcer. Moreover, the 50% mortality (LD.sub.50) of Ikarugamycin is higher than 1000 mg/kg (mouse, oral dose), which shows enough harmlessness of the drug.

The manner and the amount for administering the antiulcer drug according to this invention are shown below.

The administration is preferably carried out orally in the form of, for example, tablets, capsules, granules, syrups and the likes.

The amount of administration is suitably in the range of 0.01-500 mg/kg daily in one to several divided oral doses for adults.

Formulations for the oral administration can be made by a usual manner of manufacture. That is, tablets, capsules, granules or the likes can be produced by formulating the compound in combination with excipients such as starch, lactose, mannitol and the like; binders such as carboxymethyl cellulose sodium, hydroxypropyl cellulose and the like; disintegrators such as crystalline cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose calcium and the like; emollients such as talc, magnesium stearate and the like; and fluidity improvers such as light anhydrous silicic acid and the like.

The antiulcer drug according to the present invention will now be explained by way of the following examples.

One tablet of the following formulation was prepared according to a usual manner.

Granules of the following formulation were prepared by a usual manner, and were charged in a No. 3 capsule.