Antidiarrheal Activity of the 80% Methanol Root Extract of Thalictrum ryhnchocarpum Dill. & A. Rich and Its Major Constituent Against Castor Oil- Induced Diarrhea in Mice
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Date
2019-12
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Diarrhea is one of the main causes of infant mortality in Ethiopia and in many other developing
countries, causing about 4 to 8 million deaths annually worldwide. Despite recent reductions in
morbidity and mortality worldwide, diarrhea still remains one of the leading causes of death in
developing countries. Like many other developing countries, people in Ethiopia strongly rely on
the therapeutic benefits of traditional medicine to treat diarrhea. One such plant is Thalictrum
ryhnchocarpum Dill. & A. Rich. Thus, in the present study, the 80% methanol extract of the root
of T. ryhnchocarpum and the compound isolated thereof have been evaluated for their
antidiarrheal activity. Phytochemical investigation of the 80% methanol root extract of T.
ryhnchocarpum by preparative TLC over silica gel resulted in the isolation of one major alkaloid
unequivocally identified as berberine using various spectroscopic techniques, including MS,
13
C-NMR and DEPT spectral data.
Both the total extract and berberine were tested for their in vivo antidiarrheal activity on three
models namely, castor oil-induced diarrhea, charcoal meal and enteropooling models in mice. It
was shown that both the extract and berberine possess significant antidiarrheal activity in a dosedependent
manner on all the tested models. Particularly, the root extract showed the maximum
activity on castor oil-induced diarrhea model, with 71.4%, 74.0% and 78.0 % (P < 0.01) and
berberine displayed even higher activity with 81.0%, 87.6 % and 88.3% at tested concentration
of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively. Antidiarrheal activity of the root extract and berberine
was also noted on the other two models. When administered up to a dose of 2000 mg/kg, neither
the root extract nor berberine showed acute toxicity in Swiss albino mice. In view of the present
results, it can be concluded that the root extract of T. ryhnchocarpum and berberine could serve
for the treatment of diarrhea thereby supporting the traditional claim of the plant against
diarrhea.
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Keywords
Thalictrum ryhnchocarpum, Acute toxicity, Antidiarrheal activity, Berberine, Castor oil-induced diarrhea, Anti-enteropooling, Gastro-intestinal transit.