Naringenin is a major flavanone found in grapes, tangelos, blood oranges, lemons, pummelo, and tangerines. It is known to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer, antimutagenic, antifibrogenic, and antiatherogenic pharmacological properties. This study aims to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of naringenin in ethanol-induced gastric damage in vivo and ethanol-stimulated KATO III cells in vitro. Our results showed that pretreatment with naringenin significantly protected mice from ethanol-induced hemorrhagic damage, epithelial cell loss, and edema with leucocytes. It reduced gastric ulcers (GU) by suppressing ethanol-induced nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activity and decreasing the levels of nitric oxide (NO), malondialdehyde (MDA), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and myeloperoxidase (MPO). In addition, pretreatment with naringenin might inhibit the secretion of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-8, as well as the proteins cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) via the suppression of NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in ethanol-stimulated stomach epithelial KATO III cells. Together, the results of this study highlight the gastroprotective effect of naringenin in GU of mice by inhibiting gastric secretion and acidity, reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, suppressing NF-κB activity, and restoring the histological architecture. These findings suggested that naringenin has therapeutic potential in the alleviation of ethanol-induced GU.

Two Taiwanese patients with gallbladder small cell carcinoma are reported. One is a 79 year-old male, the other, a 86 year-old female. They both presented with the symptom/signs of acute cholecystitis and underwent cholecystectomy. An intramural mass in the gallbladder neck region was found in the first patient, while the second patient had a transmural indurated tumor in the gallbladder body with extension to the neck region. Characteristic histological and immunohistochemical features of small cell carcinoma were present in both, and electron dense neurosecretory granules were identified in the second. To our knowledge, the second patient is the oldest ever reported. The first patient received chemotherapy directed toward the initial erroneous diagnosis of non-Hodgkin s lymphoma and developed liver metastasis in two months. The second patient did not receive chemotherapy due to her poor general condition and local recurrence occurred in six weeks. Both passed away three and five months after surgery, respectively.