Antidiarrheal Activity of Aqueous and 80% Methanol Extracts of the Leaves of Leucas Abyssinica (Lamiaceae) in Mice
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Date
2020-11
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Leucas abyssinica (Lamiaceae family) is one of the medicinal plants used for the management of
diarrhea in Ethiopia but it lacks scientific evidence. Thus, this study was aimed to evaluate the
antidiarrheal activities of aqueous and 80% methanol extracts of the leaves of Leucas abyssinica
using experimental models in mice. castor oil induced diarrhea, misoprostol induced
enteropooling, normal and castor oil induced gastrointestinal transit in mice models were used to
evaluate antidiarrheal activity of the plant. Five groups of mice (six animals per group) were used
for each model. These groups were negative control group (received distilled water 10 ml/kg),
positive control group (administered loperamide 3 mg/kg) and three test groups (treated with
graded dose of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg aqueous and methanol 80% extracts respectively).
Pretreatment of mice with stated doses of both extracts of the plant significantly reduced the
frequency of wet and total feces, the weight of wet and total feces as well as increased diarrheal
free periods compared to negative controls. Both extracts produced significant reduction in both
the weight and volume of intestinal contents induced by misoprostol in a dose dependent manner.
The percentage of inhibition of gastrointestinal transit induced by castor oil for both extracts were
significant (p < 0.001) at all the tested doses in a dose dependent fashion. But none of the tested
doses of both extracts significantly reduced normal gastrointestinal transit in mice. Finally, the
results from this study suggests that both extracts of the plant have significant antidiarrheal effect
on animal models and this finding supports the antidiarrheal traditional use of the plant for
management of diarrhea.
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Keywords
Antidiarrheal activity, castor oil induced diarrhea, gastrointestinal transit, mice, misoprostol induced enteropooling, Leucas abyssinica and 80% methanol