Evaluation of Antidiarrheal Activity of Methanolic Extract of Maranta arundinacea Linn. Leaves.

Evaluation of Antidiarrheal Activity of Methanolic Extract of Maranta arundinacea Linn. Leaves. Adv Pharmacol Sci. 2015;2015:257057 Authors: Rahman MK, Chowdhury MA, Islam MT, Chowdhury MA, Uddin ME, Sumi CD Abstract Diarrhea is one of the most common causes for thousands of deaths every year. Therefore, identification of new source of antidiarrheal drugs becomes one of the most prominent focuses in modern research. Our aim was to investigate the antidiarrheal and cytotoxic activities of methanolic extract of Maranta arundinacea linn. (MEMA) leaves in rats and brine shrimp, respectively. Antidiarrheal effect was evaluated by using castor oil-induced diarrhea, enteropooling, and gastrointestinal motility tests at 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg body weight in rats where the cytotoxic activity was justified using brine shrimp lethality bioassay at different concentrations of MEMA. The extract showed considerable antidiarrheal effect by inhibiting 42.67% and 57.75% of diarrheal episode at the doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg, respectively. MEMA also significantly (p < 0.01) reduced the castor oil-induced intestinal volume (2.14 ± 0.16 to 1.61 ± 0.12 mL) in enteropooling test as well as intestinal transit (33.00 to 43.36%) in GI motility test, compared to their respective control. These observed effects are comparable to that of standard drug loperamide (5 mg/kg). On the other hand, in brine shrimp lethality test after 24 h, surviving...
Source: Advances in Pharmacological Sciences - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: Adv Pharmacol Sci Source Type: research