&lt;i&gt;In vivo&lt;/i&gt; antidiarrheal study of ethanolic extracts of &lt;i&gt;Mikania cordata&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;Litsea monopetala&lt;/i&gt; leaves

Fatema Nasrin,Md Lukman Hakim

doi:10.3329/bjp.v10i3.23402

Abstract

In this study the antidiarrheal activity of ethanolic extracts of the leaves of Mikania cordata and Litsea monopetala was evaluated. Diarrhea was induced in mice by oral administration of castor oil (0.5 mL) 30 min after the administration of the extracts. During a 4 hour study the number of diarrheal feces and percentage inhibition of the extracts (200 and 400 mg/kg body weight) was determined. Loperamide (3 mg/kg body weight) served as standard and belonged to the positive control group. The extracts exhibited potent antidiarrheal activity as well as achieved statistically significant p value (p&lt;0.01 and p&lt;0.05) compared to control group. Among the extracts the highest percentage inhibition of defecation (60%) was recorded for leaf extract (400 mg/kg body weight) of L. monopetala. So, the study corroborates the significant antidiarrheal activity of M. cordata and L. monopetala leaf extracts and raises the demand of further sophisticated investigation.

Highlights

Diarrhea is a familiar disease of the world, especially in tropical countries
M. cordata was collected from Sher-E-Bangla Agricultural University campus, Dhaka whereas L. monopetala was obtained from Natore district, Bangladesh
The plants were identified by the taxonomists of Bangladesh National Herbarium, Mirpur, Dhaka where voucher specimen No 40255 and 41343 were deposited for M. cordata and L. monopetala respectively

Summary

Introduction

Diarrhea is a familiar disease of the world, especially in tropical countries. Children are more vulnerable against diarrhea and it is estimated that 17% of all deaths in children up to five years are due to diarrhea, correspond to 1.8 million annual deaths (Wangensteen et al, 2013). At 1998, estimated by WHO, about 7.1 million deaths were caused by diarrhea (Choudhary, 2012). Though the mortality rate of diarrhea has decreased in recent years, but still it is a leading cause of malnutrition and fatal childhood disease in developing countries. Traditional medicines are used to treat diarrhea. Rural peoples largely depend on folklore medicines to combat various diseases including diarrhea. About 80% of people from developing countries use traditional medicines (Akuodor et al, 2011)

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Conclusion