Evaluation of Anti-Diarrhoeal Activity of the Leaves Extract of Ficus Microcarpa L. (Moraceae)
Abstract
The aim of present study was to investigate the anti-diarrheal
activity of Ficus microcarpa against experimentally induced
diarrhea in rats. Albino rats were used for the experiment.
Anti-diarrheal activity was determined by castor oil induced
diarrhea. The extract of the bark administered orally at a
dose 300 mg/kg and 600 mg/kg. The extract of Ficus
microcarpa produced a marked anti-diarrheal effect in rats.
Both doses of extract significantly decreased (P<0.05) the
total number of wet feces produced by administration of
castor oil (4.31 at the dose of 300 mg/kg and 7.16 at the dose
of 600 mg/kg) as compared to the castor oil treated control
group (20.75). The Ficus microcarpa extract was found to
possess an anti-enteropooling activity. Oral administration of
castor oil produced a significant increase (P<0.05) in the
intestinal fluid (3.14 ml) as compared to the normal rat (1.29
ml). The extract when given orally one hour before castor
oil, significantly inhibited (P<0.05) the enteropooling; 1.48
ml (300mg/kg) and 1.68 ml (600mg/kg). The results revealed
that the extract inhibited the small intestinal motility of the
charcoal marker in the rats by 23.92-31.12% whereas the
inhibition was noted to be 61.2% in the case of treatment by
loperamide. The results of this investigation conclude that
the extract contains pharmacologically active substances
with anti-diarrheal properties. Further research is to be
carried out to fractionate and purify the extract, in order to
find the molecules responsible for the anti-diarrheal activity.
Keywords: Anti-diarrheal activity, Ficus Microcarpa, Castor
oil, Methanolic extract.
Keywords
References
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Details
Primary Language
English
Subjects
-
Journal Section
-
Publication Date
September 12, 2014
Submission Date
September 12, 2014
Acceptance Date
-
Published in Issue
Year 2014 Volume: 18 Number: 3