In recent years, a growing interest in plant-based medicine has been observed, mainly due to a wide variety of secondary plant compounds and their health-promoting properties. Multiple health-supporting qualities have been described, but much remains to be discovered. In this study, two of the most abundant polyphenols, cinnamic acid and caffeic acid, were analyzed regarding their effects on the stomach mucosal epithelium ex vivo. To accomplish this, Ussing chamber experiments with native porcine stomach epithelial tissue specimens were performed, recording transepithelial electrical resistance, followed by immunoblotting and confocal laser scanning immunofluorescence microscopy of tight junction proteins. Additionally, to analyze potential effects not only on the physiological mucosa but also on challenged stomach epithelium, an indomethacin-induced gastric epithelial barrier impairment model for Ussing chamber experiments was employed. In this study, no effects of cinnamic acid were observed, whereas caffeic acid mitigated the impairing effects of indomethacin in porcine stomach epithelial tissue regarding changes in transepithelial resistance as well as the composition of tight junction proteins. These results indicate a strengthening effect of caffeic acid on gastric mucosa and imply benefits of caffeic acid as a plant-based drug in the prevention and treatment of gastritis.
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Vollstädt et al. (2026) studied this question.
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