Anti-Diarrheal Activity Of The Leaf Extracts Of Daniellia oliveri Hutch And Dalz (Fabaceae) And Ficus sycomorus Miq (Moraceae)

The leaves of the plants Daniellia oliveri (Fabaceae) and Ficus sycomorus (Moraceae) used in diarrhea treatment in Hausa ethnomedicine of Northern Nigeria were investigated. The study was carried out on parfused isolated rabbit jejunum and castor oil-induced diarrhea in mice. The n-butanol extracts: NBD and NBF (0.16- 3.2mg/ml) caused a dose-dependent relaxation of isolated rabbit jejunum. The acute toxicity test for NBD and NBT in mice established an i.p LD50 of > 4000mg/kg for D. oliveri and 1131.4mg/kg for F. sycomorus . In castor oilinduced diarrhea, 80% protection was observed for D. oliveri at doses of 200mg/kg and 60% protection was observed at 100mg/kg and 50mg/kg respectively. For F. sycomorus 100% protection was observed at doses of 120mg/kg and 60mg/kg, for the n-butanol extract. The antidiarrheal activity was comparable to loperamide 5mg/kg. The result revealed that the extracts have pharmacological activity against diarrhea. Keywords: Anti-diarrhea,castor oil,n-butanol extracts,tissue relaxation.African Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine Vol. 4 (4) 2007: pp. 524-52

Preliminary antidiarrhoeal activity of methanolic extracts of Securinega virosa (Euphorbiaceae)

Securinega virosa is used as remedy for diarrhoea in tropical Africa, but has not been investigated for its antidiarrhoeal activity. This study was therefore aimed at investigating the methanolic extracts of theleaves, stem bark and root bark for antidirrhoeal activity, using castor oil-induced diarrhoeal model in mice. The effects of these extracts on perfused isolated rabbit jejunum were also evaluated. Themethanolic leaves extract (8 x 10-5 – 1.6 x 10-3 mgml-1) produced a dose-dependent relaxation of the rabbit jejunum, while the methanolic stem bark and root bark extracts (2 x 10-5 – 3.2 x 10-3 mgml-1)produced contraction of the tissue. The methanolic root bark extract produced a dose-dependent protection against the castor oil- induced diarrhoea with the highest protection (100%), obtained at 100mgkg-1 comparable to that of loperamide (5 mgkg-1), the standard agent. The leaves extract also protected the mice but was not dose-dependent. The highest protection (60%) was obtained at thelowest dose (50 mgkg-1). The stem bark extract did not protect the animal against diarrhoea. The preliminary phytochemical analysis revealed that the three extracts contained similar phytochemicalconstituents which include alkaloids, tannins, saponins, flavonoids and cardiac glycosides. However, only the leaves extract contained anthraquinone glycosides. The acute toxicity test revealed the medianlethal dose (LD50) values for the leaves, stem bark and root bark extracts to be 1265, 288.5 and 774.6 mgkg-1 respectively. This suggests that the stem bark extract is relatively the most toxic. These results obtained revealed that the leaves and root bark extracts possess pharmacological activity against diarrhoea and may possibly explain the use of the plant in traditional medicine

Effects of Storage Conditions on Pharmacokinetics of Paracetamol Table

The effects of storage condition on the pharmacokinetics of paracetamol tablets were studied under several storage conditions. Three storage sites which were considered suboptimal were selected. Freshly purchased 1000-tablets tins of paracetamol were bought and stored in each of these sites for not less than two months and were being dispensed. Prior to storage a few tablets from each tin were selected to serve as control. Kinetic studies were carried out with tablets obtained after two months of storage in these sites. A colorimetric method was used for plasma concentration determination and data analysed using student t test. p value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Blood level data obtained from the studies were used to determine the pharmacokinetics of the drug. Plasma concentrations showed no statistical differences from two storage sites (p>0.05). The time taken to attain peak plasma level (t) was not statiscally affected in all the sites (p>0.05), but area under the curve from zero to infinity (AuC-) was statistically affected in two sites (