ABSTRACT
Diarrhea is a global epidemic. Majority of the populace in developing Countries including Nigeria depend on Napoleona imperialis as a safer, more effective and affordable alternatives for treatment of diarrhea. This study evaluated the antidiarrheal potential of ethanol (leaf) extract and fractions of N. imperialis in Swiss albino mice. Acute toxicity test was performed to determine safe dose range before in vivo experiments. Castor-oil induced diarrhea and charcoal meal gastrointestinal motility test models were used. Antimicrobial activity on bacteria-implicated diarrhea, and HPLC analysis of the aqueous fraction (AF) were also evaluated. The result of the acute toxicity tests show that no death occurred at the test doses. Preliminary antimicrobial screening shows that the inhibitory zone diameter (IZD) of the extract has a weak antibacterial activity against sample organisms. The presence of procyanidin, 9-alpha-OH-pinoresinol, isoprunetin and ellagic acid derivatives in the aqueous fraction were highlighted by the HPLC analysis. The AF produced more significant (P<0.05) decrease in diarrhea than the other groups. This study shows that N. imperialis possesses antidiarrheal activity and hence justifies its folkloric use in the treatment of diarrhea.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to investigate the antihypertensive effect of the methanol extract of the leaf of Napoleona imperialis (p. beauv) in adrenaline induced hypertensive rats (AlHR) and compared with those of Propanolol in a cross over design. Napoleona imperialis leaf extract and the commercial drug (Propanolol) were administered orally and through intraperitoneal (I.P) route respectively for one week. Effect of the extract on different biochemical parameters such as blood glucose, serum triglycerides, serum cholesterol, serum creatine phosphokinase, lactate dehydrogenase, pulse rate and body weight were measured utilizing standard methods. Napoleona imperialis leaf extract at the doses of 26mg/130±17g and 52mg/130±17g of body weight were given orally every morning during treatment to show the effect of dose concentration. Propanolol at a dose of 0.084mg/130±17g of body weight was injected into rats according to its pharmacokinetic parameters. The extract administered rats had significantly lowered serum lactate dehydrogenase, creatine phosphokinase and pulse rate compared to the non-extract administered AlHR group (P<0.05). Blood glucose, serum triglycerides and serum cholesterol were not lowered and significantly different (P<0.05) when compared with the control. These results suggest that oral administration of methanol extract of Napoleona imperialis may be useful for prevention and treatment of hypertension.