Activity of Oxalis barrelieri aqueous extract on rat secretory diarrhea and intestine transit.

Oxalis barrelieri is used in the folk medicine for diarrhea treatment. The effects of the aqueous extract of Oxalis barrelieri on castor oil-induced diarrhea and intestine transit were investigated in rats. To induce the diarrhea and enteropooling, animals orally received castor oil (1 mL/100 g bw). Each rat received 30 minutes after, one of the single oral doses of O. barrelieri aqueous extract: 0, 25, 50, 100, 200 and 250 mg/kg bw or loperamide (5 mg/kg bw). The frequency and the total diarrheal weight for diarrhea and the intestine content for enteropooling were measured. To value the extract effect on intestine transit, normal rats received or not acetylcholine 0.1 mg/kg bw i.p. and then different dose of plant extract 50 and 100 mg/kg bw. The extract produced significant (p<0.01) decrease: respectively 95 %, 96.36 %, 99 % and 100 % in the severity of diarrhea. The 50 and 100 mg/kg bw extract produced remarkable (p<0.01) decrease in castor oil-induced enteropooling (59 % and 71.43%), intestine transit (42.12 % and 46.50 %), and reduced acetylcholine action (-65.90 % and -53.73 %) respectively. The results provide evidence that the aqueous extract of O. barrelieri could act on secretory diarrhea and intestinal motility, and thus could justify its traditional use.

Anti-diarrhoeagenic Properties of Aqueous Extract of Phragmanthera capitata S. Balle in Albino Rats.

Aim: To investigate diarrhoeagenic activities of aqueous extract of Phragmanthera capitata (AEPC) in albino rats. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out at the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria, between October 2013 and January 2014. Methodology: Diarrhoeagenic activities were assessed using three models; enteropooling, gastrointestinal transit and faecal discharge. In each of these models, all rats were overnight fasted with access to drinking water until the start of the experiment. The rats were randomized into 5 groups of 7 rats. Group I (control) received saline (10 ml/kg), Group II (standard) and Groups III-V (test) received AEPC (100, 200, 300 mg/kg respectively) by oral gavage. To assess enteropooling activity, castor oil (1 ml) and magnesium sulfate (10 ml/kg in saline) were used to induce enteropooling in two separate experiments. Group II in both experiments received loperamide (3 mg/kg). Intestinal contents were weighed before and after discharging the contents and recorded. To investigate gastrointestinal transit, 0.25 ml of charcoal meal was administered to the rats with standard group receiving atropine (5 mg/kg i.p.). Distance traveled by charcoal meal was measured and recorded. To assess the rate of faecal discharge, castor oil (1 ml) was used to induce diarrhoea and faeces were collected, weighed and recorded. One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was performed followed by Tukey test as post hoc. Results: The results revealed significant (P =.05) reduction in faecal discharge, weight of intestinal contents and distance traveled by charcoal meal. Conclusion: AEPC possesses anti-secretory, anti-electrolyte permeability and hence anti-diarrhoeagenic properties.

Antidiarrhoeal evaluation of rhizomes of Cryptocoryne spiralis Fisch. ex Wydler: Antimotility and antisecretory effects.

The antidiarrhoeal activity of Cryptocoryne spiralis rhizomes extract (250, 500, 750 mg/kg, po) was evaluated using faecal excretion, castor oil-induced diarrhoea, small intestinal transit, intestinal fluid accumulation, gastric emptying and PGE2 induced enteropooling models in rats. In addition, various biochemical estimations, histopathological studies and antibacterial evaluations on strains responsible for diarrhoea were also performed. The results illustrated a significant reduction in normal faecal output rate after 5th and 7th h of treatment, while castor oil-induced diarrhoea model depicted a protection of 55.44% at same dose level from diarrhoea. The other models except, gastric emptying test demonstrated more pronounced effect at same dose level. A significant inhibition in nitric oxide, increase in carbohydrates, protein, DNA, Na+ and K+ level with minimum degeneration of colonic fibrous tissues and potent antibacterial activity were also observed. The antidiarrhoeal potential of C. spiralis may be as a result of antimotility and antisecretory type effect mediated through nitric oxide pathway.

Antidiarrheal activity of flowers of Ixora Coccinea Linn. in rats.

Ixora coccinea Linn (Rubiaceae), a small shrub cultivated throughout India, has been reported to possess a number of medicinal properties. It has traditionally been used for the treatment of diarrhea and dysentery. However the claims of Ayurveda have to be validated by suitable experimental models. The present study was therefore undertaken to evaluate the effect of aqueous extract of I. coccinea for its antidiarrheal potential against several experimental models of diarrhea in albino Wistar rats. Here, we report the effects of aqueous extracts of flowers of I. coccinea in the castor oil induced diarrhea model. The gastrointestinal transit rate was expressed as the percentage of the longest distance traversed by charcoal divided by the total length of the small intestine. Weight and volume of intestinal content induced by castor oil were studied by the enteropooling method. Loperamide was used as a positive control. The plant-extract showed significant (P<0.001) inhibitor activity against castor oil induced diarrhea and castor oil induced enteropooling in rats at the dose of 400 mg/kg. There was also significant reduction in gastrointestinal motility in the charcoal meal test. Results obtained in this study substantiate the antidiarrheal effect of the aqueous extract and its use by traditional practitioners in the treatment of diarrhea.