US EPA

1035679 

Journal Article 

Evaluation of five medicinal plants used in diarrhoea treatment in Nigeria 

Agunu, A; Yusuf, S; Andrew, GO; Zezi, AU; Abdurahman, EM 

2005 

Yes 

Journal of Ethnopharmacology
ISSN: 0378-8741 

101 

1-3 

27-30 

English 

15908152 

10.1016/j.jep.2005.03.025 

WOS:000232312200003 

Five medicinal plants [Acacia nilotica, Acanthospermun hispidum, Gmelina arborea, Parkia biglobosa and Vitex doniana] used in diarrhoeal treatment in Kaduna State, Nigeria, were investigated. This study was carried out on perfused isolated rabbit jejunum and castor oil-induced diarrhoea in mice. The aqueous methanol extracts (0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 mg/ml) were generally found to cause a dose-dependent response in the isolated rabbit jejunum, though this was not uniform in all the plants. Gmelina arborea and Vitex doniana showed concentration dependent relaxation at low doses (0.5, 1.0 mg/ml), but showed no significant relaxation at higher doses (2.0, 3.0 mg/ml). Other extracts showed biphasic effects. For example, Acacia nilotica at 3.0 mg/ml caused initial relaxation quickly followed by contraction. In the castor oil-induced diarrhoeal, 100% protections were shown by extracts of Acacia nilotica and Parkia biglobosa (100, 200 mg/kg) while Vitex doniana showed a dose-dependent effect. The least protection was shown by Acanthospermun hispidum, at the same dose, when compared with the other four plants. The results obtained revealed that the aqueous methanol extracts of all the five medicinal plants investigated have pharmacological activity against diarrhoea. This may explain their use in traditional medicine for the treatment of diarrhoea. 

antidiarrhoeal; castor oil; medicinal plants; methanol extracts; tissue relaxation