Acute toxicity investigation and anti-diarrhoeal effect of the chloroform–methanol extract of the seeds of Persea americana in albino rats

Abstract

Abstract Background and Aim Persea americana is a plant used by traditional medicine practitioners to treat ailments including diarrhoea and diabetes mellitus in Nigeria. Hence, the chloroform and the methanol fractions of the chloroform–methanol extract of the seeds of P. americana were evaluated for their acute toxicity as well as anti-diarrhoeal effects in Wistar rats to substantiate this claim. Methods The chloroform and methanol fractions [at graded doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight (b.w) of each] were studied for their anti-diarrhoeal effects in terms of the reductions in the wetness of faeces and the frequency of defaecation of castor oil-induced diarrhoea. To understand the mechanism of their anti-diarrhoeal effects, their actions were further evaluated on castor oil-induced enteropooling (intestinal fluid accumulation). Results The median lethal dose (LD 50 ) of the chloroform and methanol fractions were each found to be less than 5000 mg/kg b.w. At the two doses, the chloroform and the methanol fractions showed dose-dependent significant ( p p p Conclusion Experimental findings show that the chloroform–methanol extract of the seeds of P. americana possesses significant anti-diarrhoeal effect and may be a potent source of anti-diarrhoeal drug(s) in future.