Is the treatment with simethicone plus ranitidine combination a better drug for peptic ulcers? - A study on rats

Simethicone, a water repellent and defoaming agent, is used in barrier creams and in pharmaceutical industry. Simethicone has been hypothesized to form a protective coat on the gastric mucosa, and therefore, when it is given in combination with ranitidine, a H₂ blocker, for the treatment of peptic ulcers, ranitidine would function as a better antiulcerative than it could when given alone. The hypothesis has been proved on three experimentally produced ulcers in male rats. In all three models the combination treatment, simethicone + ranitidine, showed it's significant (p ≤ 0.01) superiority over ranitidine given alone, for antiulcer effects. Simethicone alone also produced considerable antiulcer effects in all three experimentally produced ulcers. The additive effect of simethicone + ranitidine combination, implies it's superiority for the treatment of peptic ulcers.