{"id":40355,"date":"2021-09-30T11:34:08","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T11:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/?p=40355"},"modified":"2021-10-12T05:13:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T05:13:32","slug":"antidiarrheal-activity-of-four-different-species-of-litsea-available-in-bangladesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/staging\/vol14no3\/antidiarrheal-activity-of-four-different-species-of-litsea-available-in-bangladesh\/","title":{"rendered":"Antidiarrheal Activity of Four Different Species of Litsea Available in Bangladesh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Diarrhea is a foremost public health issue worldwide, particularly in developing countries the global death rate is 8% among children below age 5 in 2017. In Bangladesh during 2010\u201312 the rate of deaths, among children < 5 years was 4% due to acute diarrhea, 2% because of diarrhea-induced illness and 53% due to pneumonia in addition to diarrhea1<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Diarrhea is a change in normal fecal output and is characterized by frequent passing of loose and watery stool with increased fecal volume, rate of bowl movement, abdominal pain and decreased absorption of fluid2<\/sup>. For long years, plants with medicinal value have been used to treat various\u00a0ailments counting diarrhea also3<\/sup>. In developing countries, most of the people rely on medicinal plants to treat diarrhea4-5<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

The Lauraceae family contains of nearly 55 genera and more than 2,000 species throughout the world6<\/sup>.Litsea<\/em> genus belongs to the laurel family, Lauraceae and the plants are deciduous or evergreen shrubs or trees. There are more than 600 species widely distributed in tropical and\u00a0subtropical regionsincluding South America, North America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. More than 407 phytochemicals of diverse varieties including sesquiterpenes, lactones, flavonoids, lignans, alkaloids etc. have been reported from Litsea<\/em> species7<\/sup>. Most of these\u00a0secondary metabolites possess significant bioactivities as antidiarrheal, antimicrobial, insecticidal, anti-HIV, antioxidant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory etc.In Bangladesh,there are few references on this genus and 11 species of Litsea<\/em> are listed by the Ministry of Environment and\u00a0Forest, Bangladesh. Among them we have selected four species for our study.<\/p>\n

Litsea deccanensis<\/em>\u00a0Gamble is distributed in Chattogram, Bangladesh.In Andhra Pradesh, India L. deccanensis<\/em> leaves are used in chest pain and the extract of this plant was studied to possess compelling antioxidant and reducing capacities and cardioprotective effect in rat models. \u03b1-humulene, \u03b2-Caryophyllene, caryophyllene epoxide, bicyclogermacrene, germacra-3,9,11-triene; Squalene, quassin, stigmasterol, vitamin E, oleic acidand several alkaloids boldine, corytuberine, dicentrine, nordicentrine, laurolitsine, isocorydine, magnoflorine were isolated from L. deccanensis<\/em>8-10<\/sup>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Litsea lancifolia<\/em> (Roxb.) Hook. f. named by Chakma tribes as Judijaylla belongs to the Lauraceae family is distributed in the south-eastern portion of Bangladesh. L. lancifolia<\/em> root is used to treat diarrhea by Chakma tribes in Rangamati, Bangladesh11<\/sup>. L. lancifolia<\/em>\u00a0exhibited promising anti-diabetic effect and found nontoxic to 3T3L1 cells12<\/sup>. Bulbul et al<\/em>. (2020) reported L. lancifolia<\/em>\u00a0to have anti-oxidant, analgesic, antimicrobial, CNS depressant and hypoglycemic activities13<\/sup>.Sulaimanet al<\/em>. (2011) reported the alkaloids namely lancifoliaine, boldine,\u00a0norboldine, actindaphnine, etc in the bark ofthis plant14<\/sup>. Li et al.<\/em> (2008) reported alkaloids litseferine, juziphine, phanostenineand a steroid \u03b2-sitosterol. Aristotetralone, dehydrodi isoeugenol, 4′-methylenedioxyflavan-3-ol, 5,7-dimethoxy-3′, \u03b2-hydroxybenzoic acid,\u00a0\u03b2-sitosterol, vanillin and dihydro dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol were also isolated from L. lancifolia<\/em>15-16<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Litsea glutinosa<\/em> Gamble (Lauraceae) is a medium-sized tree, growing in the forest of Chattogram and Sylhet districts in Bangladesh17<\/sup>. In Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Malaysia L. glutinosa<\/em>bark, leaves, roots and fruits are used for diarrhea, abscess and traumatic injury while\u00a0the essential seed oil is used traditionally for rheumatism18<\/sup>. Previously L. glutinosa<\/em> was evaluated for its thrombolytic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antibacterial, anti-diabetic (type II), antioxidant, hepatoprotective activities19-21<\/sup>. Several alkaloids such as\u00a0isoboldine, laureliptine, Liriodenine, actinodaphnine, n-methylactinodaphnine, laurotetanine, n-methyllaurotetanine, laurolitsine, boldine, litseferine, litsine and glutinosine A\u00a0 were previously reported in L. glutinosa<\/em>22-24<\/sup>. <\/em>Some flavonoids such as 2′,5,7-trihydroxy-6-methoxyflavone2′-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside25<\/sup>; sesquiterpenes like \u03b2-Caryophyllene, Caryophyllene oxide and monoterpenes like(E)-\u03b2-Ocimene, (Z)-\u03b2-Ocimene\u00a0 were isolated from L. glutinosa<\/em>26<\/sup>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Litsea monopetala\u00a0<\/em>Roxb.Pers. belongs to the Lauraceae family and spreads in the hill tract forests, Sal forests and in the village areas of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, India, China L. monopetala<\/em> is traditionally used in treating fracture and dislocation, skin disease, gonorrhea,\u00a0diarrhea and also to cure pains27<\/sup>. This plant species was also reported for its antioxidant, antimicrobial, analgesic, hypoglycemic, CNS depressant and antidiarrheal activities27-29<\/sup>. Chalcone and its derivatives and eugenol27<\/sup>, caryophyllene oxide, \u03b1-caryophyllene alcohol, humulene oxide,\u00a0tricosane and pentacosanein the flower;capric acid, nonanol and decanal in fruit and myristic acid, tridecanol, tridecanal and tetradecanal in bark were also reported from L. monopetala<\/em>30<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Considering the traditional uses of above-mentioned plantsof Litsea species in the treatment of diarrhea as well as few evidence-based reports of this effect, our present study was aimed to evaluate their antidiarrheal effect in animal.<\/p>\n

Methods<\/strong><\/p>\n

Collection of Plant Materials and Preparation of Plant Extracts<\/strong><\/p>\n

The bark of L. deccanensis<\/em> (DACB–<\/em>35517),the leaves ofL. lancifolia\u00a0<\/em>(DACB-35164), L.glutinosa<\/em>(DACB-37904) and L. monopetala (<\/em>DACB-38437) were collected from Chattogramhill track, Bangladesh. All the plant samples were identified by a taxonomistat Bangladesh National Herbarium, Mirpur-1, Dhaka-1216, Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

After collection, the plant samples were washed gently with tap water and then shade dried for several days,and finally crushed to granular powder.The grounded plant materials (800 g to 1000 g) for each plant were drenched in methanol in flat bottom containers at room temperature<\/p>\n

for seven days with occasional shaking and stirring.The extracts werethen filtered twice by using cotton mass followed by filter papers (What man No. 1). A rotary evaporator (Heidolph, Germany) was used to concentrate the filtrates at reduced pressure and temperature. All the\u00a0crude extracts were evaporated to dryness and kept in a moisture free cold environment for further analysis.<\/p>\n

Experimental animals <\/strong><\/p>\n

Swiss albino mice of either sex (Weight: 30-40g; Age: 6-8 weeks) were procured from Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh for the experiment. The animals were accommodated in standard mice cases at 25\u00b0C and a proper day\/night circle was\u00a0maintained.Before the beginning of the experiment, the animals were adapted for seven days for acclimatization.In the complete study the animals were handled according to the guidelines by the National Research Council, Washington, DC31<\/sup>. Those guidelines were accepted by the\u00a0committee on ethical compliance in research (SEU\/Pharm\/CECR\/103\/2021) of Southeast University.<\/p>\n

Acute oral toxicity test <\/strong><\/p>\n

The toxicity study after oral administration of the plant extracts was conducted according to OECD 420 Standard32<\/sup>. Swiss albino mice (Female; weight: 30-40 g; Age: 4-6 weeks) were taken for the study. This experiment was started with one fasted mouse that was given plant\u00a0extract orally at a dose of 2000 mg\/kg body weight and noticed for any toxic influenceof the extract like increased motor activity, coma or death. As there was no death within 24 h then other four mice were treated with the same dose for each extract. Following the administration of four extracts, the treated animals were observed for toxic and behavioural effects every day for about\u00a014 sequential days.<\/p>\n

Experimental design <\/strong><\/p>\n

Extracts coding for different doses<\/strong><\/p>\n

Three different doses (100, 200 and 400 mg\/kg)of the methanol extract of L. deccanensis<\/em>were coded as MELD_1, MELD_2 and MELD_3, respectively; for L. lancifolia<\/em>the codes were MELL_1, MELL_2 and MELL_3; for L. glutinosa<\/em> the codes were MELG_1, MELG_2 and\u00a0MELG_3 and for L. monopetala<\/em> they were MELM_1, MELM_2 and MELM_3, respectively.<\/p>\n

Animal grouping and dosing <\/strong><\/p>\n

Swiss albino mice were allocated into five groups containing five mice in each group as follows:<\/p>\n

Group I: Control, specifiedto administer only vehicle (10 ml\/kg, distilled water)<\/p>\n

Group II: Standard control,specified to administerstandard Loperamide (3 mg\/kg body weight)<\/p>\n

Group III: Treatment group, specified to administer the plant extract (100 mg\/kg body weight)<\/p>\n

Group III: Treatment group, specified to administer the plant extract (200 mg\/kg body weight)<\/p>\n

Group III: Treatment group, specified to administer the plant extract (400 mg\/kg body weight)<\/p>\n

Antidiarrheal activity test<\/strong><\/p>\n

Castor oil-induced diarrhea<\/strong><\/p>\n

Antidiarrheal activity was evaluated by castor oil-induceddiarrheal method in mice33<\/sup>.The animals were divided into negative control, positive or standard group, and test groups, as discussed in the animal grouping and dosing section. After 60 min of administration of three different doses (100, 200 and 400 mg\/kg body weight) of four different plant extracts (MELM,\u00a0MELL, MELG and MELD) and standard Loperamide (3 mg\/kg body weight), 0.5 ml castor oil was given orally to every mouse to induce diarrhea. The experimental animals were then retained separatelyin a plastic cage with the floor on which a white paper was placed to note the number\u00a0of wet stools (diarrheal stool), total number and total weight of the faecal output for consequent four hours. Every hour the white paper was changed. Then, diarrheal inhibition (% inhibition of wet defecation) and the percentage of faecal output (% FOP) were calculated by the following\u00a0equations:<\/p>\n

\"Vol14No3_Ant_Isrl_eq1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Where, WDC<\/sub>= Mean wet defecation of control, WDT <\/sub>= Mean wet defecation of standard drug\/ test samples.<\/p>\n

\"Vol14No3_Ant_Isrl_eq2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Where, FWT<\/sub> = Mean faecal weight of each treatment group; FWC<\/sub>= Mean faecal weight of control group.<\/p>\n

Gastrointestinal motility test<\/strong><\/p>\n

By using barium sulphate meal<\/strong><\/p>\n

This study was completed conferring the reported method ofChatterjee (1993), updated by Mazumdar et al.<\/em> (2015) and investigated the effect of the plant extracts on the gastrointestinal motility induced by castor oil34-35<\/sup>. Experimental mice fasted for 18 hwere grouped as negative\u00a0control, positive control and treatment group, as discussed in the previous section. One hour after treatment with standard loperamide (3 mg\/kg body weight) and three different doses (100, 200 and 400 mg\/kg body weight respectively) of four differentplant extracts, 0.5 ml of castor oil was\u00a0administered by oral gavage to initiate diarrhea in mice. Following one hour of castor oil administration, all mice were given 1 ml of 5% barium sulphate suspension by oral gavage. White barium sulphate suspension was used in this method,because it is easily visible in normal\u00a0light which can help for the measurement of the distance travelled by the barium sulphate meal of the intestine. After 30 min of barium sulphate administration, all the animals were sacrificed and the small intestine of each mouse was isolated. Then the entire length of the intestine and the\u00a0intestinal length travelled by the barium sulphate meal were measured by using centimetre scale.<\/p>\n

By using the succeeding formula, the percentage of inhibition of the gastrointestinal motility and peristaltic index were calculated.<\/p>\n

\"Vol14No3_Ant_Isrl_eq3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Where, DC<\/sub> = Mean distance travelled by the control; DT<\/sub> = Mean distance travelled by the test group.<\/p>\n

\"Vol14No3_Ant_Isrl_eq4\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Statistical analysis <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Graph Pad Prism 8 was used to perform the statistical analysis and all values are expressed as mean \u00b1 SEM (n=5). A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by a Dunnet test was performed to compare multiple groups. Values were measured statistically significant at P<0.05, P<0.01, P<0.001.<\/p>\n

Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

Results acute oral toxicity test <\/strong><\/p>\n

After administration of a single oral dose of 2000 mg\/kg body weight for all the plant extracts, the animals were observed for 14 days and found no significant toxic effects and death incidence. Water and food intake by the animals were normal during this observation period. So, it can be\u00a0concluded that MELD, MELL, MELG and MELM have a broader safety margin and their LD50<\/sub> value will be more than 2000 mg\/kg.<\/p>\n

Effect of test extracts on castor oil-induced diarrhea <\/strong><\/p>\n

In this experiment, the tested plant extractsMELD, MELL, MELG and MELM exhibited a dose-dependent reduction in the number of wet feces (diarrheal stool), total number and total weight of the feces and the results were significant (p<0.05) for all the plant extracts at a dose of 400\u00a0mg\/kg, as compared with control.Castor oil-induced diarrheal feces werenoticeably reduced by all the extracts andthe maximum diarrheal inhibition was observed for MELD, MELL, MELG and MELM extracts at 400 mg\/kg and that were 43.55%, 45.16%, 32.26% and 41.94%,\u00a0respectively,while it was 98.39% for the standard Loperamide. Though all the extracts exhibited a similar effect, the order for the inhibition of wet defecation was MELL>MELD>MELM>MELG. Percentage (%) of fecal output for MELD, MELL, MELG and\u00a0MELM extracts at 400 mg\/kg were 40.14%, 62.27%, 64.06% and 46.26%, respectively and the order of the plant extracts for fecal output was MELD>MELM>MELL>MELG (Table 1).<\/p>\n

Table 1: Effect of the methanol extracts of L. monopetala<\/em>, L. lancifolia, L. glutinosa<\/em>and L. deccanensis<\/em>on castor oil-induced diarrhea in mice.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Treatment Groups<\/strong><\/td>\nDose<\/strong>(mg\/kg, p.o)<\/strong><\/td>\nTotal number of\u00a0 feces<\/strong><\/td>\nTotal number of wet feces<\/strong><\/td>\n% inhibition of wet defecation<\/strong><\/td>\n% of fecal output<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Control<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n22.5\u00b11.85<\/td>\n15.5\u00b12.02<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Loperamide<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n2\u00b10.71*<\/td>\n0.25\u00b10.25*<\/td>\n98.39<\/td>\n12.28<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELD_1<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n12.25\u00b12.06*<\/td>\n9.750\u00b11.60<\/td>\n37.10<\/td>\n46.62<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELD_2<\/td>\n200<\/td>\n10.25\u00b11.70*<\/td>\n9.25\u00b11.89<\/td>\n40.32<\/td>\n39.86<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELD_3<\/td>\n400<\/td>\n9.75\u00b11.49*<\/td>\n8.75\u00b11.65*<\/td>\n43.55<\/td>\n40.14<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELL_1<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n16.25\u00b11.03<\/td>\n9.5\u00b10.28<\/td>\n38.71<\/td>\n74.02<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELL_2<\/td>\n200<\/td>\n16.75\u00b11.32<\/td>\n9.250\u00b11.11<\/td>\n40.32<\/td>\n70.11<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELL_3<\/td>\n400<\/td>\n14.75\u00b10.85*<\/td>\n8.5\u00b10.5*<\/td>\n45.16<\/td>\n62.27<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELG_1<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n19.5\u00b11.041<\/td>\n13.25\u00b11.32<\/td>\n14.52<\/td>\n81.14<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELG_2<\/td>\n200<\/td>\n17.5\u00b10.65<\/td>\n13\u00b11.41<\/td>\n16.13<\/td>\n77.58<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELG_3<\/td>\n400<\/td>\n15.5\u00b13.66*<\/td>\n10.5\u00b13.23<\/td>\n32.26<\/td>\n64.06<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELM_1<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n17\u00b10.71<\/td>\n10.25\u00b10.95<\/td>\n33.87<\/td>\n55.87<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELM_2<\/td>\n200<\/td>\n14\u00b11.0*<\/td>\n9.75\u00b10.63<\/td>\n37.10<\/td>\n52.31<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELM_3<\/td>\n400<\/td>\n14\u00b11.68*<\/td>\n9\u00b10.71*<\/td>\n41.94<\/td>\n46.26<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

All values are stated as mean \u00b1 SEM (n = 5); One way ANOVA then a Tukey post hoc test was carried out for data analysis. Here, * values are statistically significant at P<0.05<\/p>\n

Effects of test extracts on gastrointestinal motility <\/strong><\/p>\n

In this test, all the extracts (MELD, MELL, MELG and MELM) also exhibited significant (p<0.05) and a dose-dependent reduction in the gastrointestinal motility induced by castor oil. The plant extracts MELL, MELG, MELD and MELM at the dose of 400 mg\/kg showed\u00a0maximum influence by 33.22%, 32.36%, 26.26% and 22.52%, respectively whereas standard loperamide (3 mg\/kg body weight) treated group showed a greater antimotility effect by 27.56% than all of the plant extracts. The order of the plant extracts for inhibition of intestinal motility\u00a0was MELL>MELG>MELD>MELM. The peristaltic indices were reduced by the plant extracts at all doses, compared to control except MELD at dose of 100mg\/kg body weight (Tables 2).<\/p>\n

Table 2:\u00a0Effect of the methanol extracts of L. monopetala<\/em>, L. lancifolia, L. glutinosa<\/em>and L. deccanensis<\/em>on gastrointestinal motility in mice.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Treatment Groups<\/strong><\/td>\nDose (mg\/kg, p.o)<\/strong><\/td>\nTotal Length (cm) of Intestine<\/strong><\/td>\nDistance (cm) traveled by Barium Sulphate<\/strong><\/td>\n% of Inhibition<\/strong><\/td>\nPeristalsis Index (%)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Control<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n53.1\u00b17.12<\/td>\n47.943\u00b14.06<\/td>\n<\/td>\n90.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Loperamide<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n52.070\u00b11.80<\/td>\n34.73\u00b11.59<\/td>\n27.56<\/td>\n66.7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELD_1<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n47.158\u00b13.31<\/td>\n44.45\u00b11.80<\/td>\n7.29<\/td>\n94.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELD_2<\/td>\n200<\/td>\n47.568\u00b12.98<\/td>\n37.748\u00b11.66<\/td>\n21.26<\/td>\n79.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELD_3<\/td>\n400<\/td>\n59.860\u00b12.87<\/td>\n35.353\u00b15.06<\/td>\n26.26<\/td>\n59.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELL_1<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n48.013\u00b12.10<\/td>\n35.268\u00b16.14<\/td>\n26.44<\/td>\n73.5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELL_2<\/td>\n200<\/td>\n53.658\u00b12.10<\/td>\n32.385\u00b19.53<\/td>\n32.45<\/td>\n60.4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELL_3<\/td>\n400<\/td>\n50.8\u00b11.56<\/td>\n32.018\u00b17.42<\/td>\n33.22<\/td>\n63.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELG_1<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n50.165\u00b11.10<\/td>\n35.242\u00b12.66<\/td>\n26.49<\/td>\n70.3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELG_2<\/td>\n200<\/td>\n51.435\u00b12.67<\/td>\n32.933\u00b12.31<\/td>\n31.31<\/td>\n64.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELG_3<\/td>\n400<\/td>\n54.928\u00b13.38<\/td>\n32.428\u00b16.66<\/td>\n32.36<\/td>\n59.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELM_1<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n48.135\u00b11.74<\/td>\n41.225\u00b12.39<\/td>\n14.01<\/td>\n85.6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELM_2<\/td>\n200<\/td>\n48.955\u00b10.62<\/td>\n39.688\u00b13.57<\/td>\n17.22<\/td>\n81.1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
MELM_3<\/td>\n400<\/td>\n47.05\u00b11.29<\/td>\n37.148\u00b13.64<\/td>\n22.52<\/td>\n79.0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

All values are stated as mean \u00b1 SEM (n = 5); One way ANOVA then a Tukey post hoc test was carried out for data analysis. Here, * values are statistically significant at P<0.05<\/p>\n

Discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n

Traditionally many medicinal plantshaving antidiarrheal effect are used in our folk medicine for the management of diarrheal disease.It is therefore imperative to find out available natural drugs as alternatives to commonly used synthetic antidiarrheal drugs, which are associated with serious\u00a0adverse effects. In Bangladesh, a range of medicinal plants with antidiarrheal properties has been widely used by common people36<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

In our current study the antidiarrheal properties of the methanol extract of four different species of Litsea, i.e., L. deccanensis<\/em>(MELD), L. lancifolia\u00a0<\/em>(MELL),L. glutinosa<\/em>(MELG) and L. monopetala<\/em>(MELM) was determined and the results of our study clearly portrays significant\u00a0antidiarrheal properties in mice model. All the plant extracts showed significant (p<0.05) and a dose-dependent inhibition of castor oil-induced diarrhea and gastrointestinal motility in animal. This inhibitory effect justifies the folkloric use of L. lancifolia, L. glutinosa<\/em>and L. monopetala<\/em>in\u00a0the treatment of diarrhea. The antidiarrheal effect of L. monopetala<\/em>observed in this study has supported the previous reports28<\/sup>,whileforL. lancifolia, L. glutinosa<\/em>and L. monopetala, <\/em>this is the first report of their antidiarrheal activity.<\/p>\n

Castor oil-induced diarrheal model is a common technique which is used to evaluate the antidiarrheal activity of plant extracts in animal. Castor oil produces diarrheain mice by changing the permeability of electrolytes through the intestinal mucous membrane37-38<\/sup>. Ricinoleic acid, an\u00a0active metabolite of castor oil, inducesmucosal irritation and inflammation via augmented secretion of prostaglandins which ultimately increases GI motility and secretion.<\/p>\n

In this experiment,the methanol extracts of L. deccanensis,L. lancifolia, L. glutinosa<\/em>and L. monopetala<\/em>effectively exhibited antidiarrheal action by the inhibition of castor oil-induced prostaglandin synthesis.The antidiarrheal activity might also be due to inhibition of ricinoleic\u00a0acid secretion, resulting in the stimulation of Na+<\/sup>, K+<\/sup> ATPase activity which enhances absorption of electrolytes in the intestinal mucosa39<\/sup>. It can be presumed that this antidiarrheal effect of the tested plant extracts is due to their antisecretory and antimotility properties, a similar mechanism\u00a0produced by loperamide, a commonly used antidiarrheal drug. So, the reduced intestinal motility and fluid accumulation within the gastrointestinal tract of the treated animal by the plant extracts may be mediated through the similar mechanism by the standard loperamide.<\/p>\n

This antidiarrheal effect could probably be associated with the occurrence of phytochemicals such as terpenoids, tannins and flavonoids present in the plant extract, MELD, MELL, MELG and MELM which are shown to inhibit the prostaglandin release and intestinal absorption of\u00a0electrolyte. Many studies have confirmed several phytochemicals in medicinal plants to produce antidiarrhealactivity by increasing antispasmodic effects, suppressing gut motility, delaying intestinal transit, stimulating water adsorption orreducing electrolyte secretion40<\/sup>. Phytochemicals\u00a0such as flavonoids and tannins are reported to exhibitantidiarrheal activity by stimulatingelectrolyte and water reabsorption from small intestine41-42<\/sup>. Four of our studied plants have been reported previously to have many of these phytochemicals predominantly alkaloids14-15, 22-25<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

The obtained results from this study revealed that the methanol extracts of four different species of Litsea<\/em> found in Bangladesh have remarkable antidiarrheal potential. All these four plant extracts may produce the antidiarrheal activity by stimulating the reabsorption of electrolyte\u00a0andwater, and by checking intestinal motility as all of these plants are rich sources of alkaloids, flavonoids and tannins. This result also provides the basis for the traditional uses of these plant species as antidiarrheal agent.However, more detailed phytochemical analysis will be necessary\u00a0to identify the active constituents responsible for the pharmacological activities of Litsea species.<\/p>\n

Acknowledgement<\/strong><\/p>\n

We would like to thank Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh for providing us experimental animals. The authors would also like to acknowledge the support of Bangladesh National Herbarium for the identification of the studied plants.<\/p>\n

Conflict of Interest<\/strong><\/p>\n

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n

Funding Source<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a self-funded research project.<\/p>\n

Reference<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
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    Introduction Diarrhea is a foremost public health issue worldwide, particularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vol14no3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40355"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41283,"href":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40355\/revisions\/41283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biomedpharmajournal.org\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}