Anti diarrheal activity of root extracts of Elephantopus scaber L

Elephantopus scaber L. (Asteraceae) is a small herb, which grows in the wild throughout the hotter parts of India. The plant has been used in the Indian System of Medicine as an analgesic, diuretic, astringent, antidiarrhea and anti-emetic [1]. In the present study, we evaluated the antidiarrheal activity of roots of E.scaber against several experimental models of diarrhea in rats. The antidiarrheal activity of ethanol and aqueous extracts of E. scaber was evaluated using castor oil-induced diarrheal model in rats [2]. Further, we evaluated the effect of ethanol and aqueous extracts on gastrointestinal tract motility after charcoal meal administration [2], and PGE₂ induced intestinal fluid accumulation (enteropooling) [3]. The plant extracts showed significant (p<0.05) inhibitory activity against castor oil induced diarrhea (Table 1) and PGE₂ induced enteropooling in rats when tested at 200mg/kg (Table 2). Both extracts also showed significant (p<0.001) reduction in gastrointestinal motility in charcoal meal test in rats (Table 3). The results point out the possible antidiarrheal effect of the plant extracts and substantiate the use of this herbal remedy as a non – specific treatment for diarrhea in folk medicine.

Tables edited.

Acknowledgements: All authors are grateful to our honorable secretary Mr. C. Basavaraj. Rural college of Pharmacy, Devanahalli, Bangalore, Karnataka, India for financial assistance.

References: 1. Avani, K., Neeta, S. (2005), Ind. J. Pharmacol. 37:126–127. 2. Venkatesan, N. et al. (2005), J. Pharm. Pharmaceut. Sci. 8: 39–45. 2. Gunakkurna, A. et al. (2005), J. Ethnopharmacol. 98: 241–244.