Suppression of enterotoxin-induced intestinal fluid secretion by wood creosote

Wood creosote suppresses intestinal fluid secretion induced by heat-labile enterotoxin (LT) of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). When rabbit jejunum is ligated into a 5-cm segment and LT is administered locally, it actively induces intestinal fluid secretion in a dose-dependent manner. Local administration of wood creosote together with a fixed dose of LT suppressed the LT-induced fluid secretion in a dose-dependent manner. At a 50-ng/segment dose of LT, 7.4 +/- 1.1 ml (n = 5) of fluid is secreted into an intestinal segment; coadministration of wood creosote (150 micrograms/segment) significantly (p < 0.01) suppressed the fluid secretion to 2.4 +/- 2.3 ml. Based on these results, we conclude that the antidiarrheal activity of wood creosote is attributable to its antisecretory or proabsorptive effect (or both) on the intestine.