Muscovite is protective against non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced small bowel injury

AIM: To evaluate the effect of muscovite in preventing small bowel injury induced by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs(NSAIDs).METHODS: We recruited and screened thirty-two healthy volunteers who were randomly allocated equally into two groups: an NSAID control group, who received 75 mg slow-release diclofenac, twice daily for 14 d; and an NSAID-muscovite group, who received 3 g of muscovite in addition to the 75 mg of slow-release diclofenac, twice daily for 14 d. For gastroprotection, both groups were administered 20 mg/d of the proton pump inhibitor omeprazole. All eligible subjects underwent video capsule endoscopy(CE) prior to and 14 d after treatment.RESULTS: Thirty subjects(NSAID-muscovite group,n =16; NSAID control group, n =14) finally completed the whole trail. At the baseline CE examination, no statistically significant differences between the two groups have been observed. However, after 14 d of drug treatment, a significant difference was observed in the percentage of subjects with mucosal breaks when comparing the NSAID-muscovite group with the NSAID control group. While 71.4%(10/14) of subjects in the NSAID control group had at least one mucosal break, co-administration of muscovite in the NSAID-muscovite group reduced the rate to 31.3%(5/16)(P = 0.028). Moreover, higher number of mucosal breaks was found in the NSAID control group vs that in the NSAID-muscovite group(P < 0.05).CONCLUSION: Muscovite co-therapy reduced the incidence of small intestinal injury after 14 d of diclofenac administration.