Antidiarrheal activity of Pterocarpus erinaceus methanol leaf extract in experimentally-induced diarrhea

To investigate the antidiarrheal activity of the methanol leaf extract of Pterocarpus erinaceus in vivo.

The methanol leaf extract of Pterocarpus erinaceus was evaluated using different doses (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight) orally for antidiarrheal activity using castor oil-induced diarrhea, charcoal meal transit time and castor oil-induced enteropooling in different groups of albino Wistar mice. The activity of the extract at different doses were compared to diphenoxylate (5 mg/kg) and atropine sulphate (3 mg/kg) which were used as standard reference drugs and also to the distilled water administered negative control group of mice.

The extract at the doses used caused a significant (P< 0.01) reduction in the wet faeces passed by the mice in the castor oil-induced diarrhea, decreased the distance travelled by the charcoal meal by up to 54.8% and also caused a dose dependent and significant (P< 0.001) reduction in the intraluminal fluid accumulation in the castor oil-induced enteropooling.

Our results indicate that Pterocarpus erinaceus extract produced significant antidiarrheal activity and the action may attribute to inhibition of gastrointestinal movement and fluid secretion.