Ugochi Olivia Njoku 
,
Obinna Martins Ogugofor
For correspondence:- Ugochi Njoku Email: ugochi.njoku@unn.edu.ng Tel:+2348037461525
Accepted: 23 June 2021 Published: 29 July 2021
Citation: Njoku UO, Ogugofor OM. Anti-diarrhoeal effect of methanol leaf fraction of Cola hispida Brenan and Keay in rats. Trop J Pharm Res 2021; 20(7):1455-1462 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v20i7.19
© 2021 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..
Purpose: To evaluate the anti-diarrhoeal activity of 20 % methanol leaf fraction of Cola hispida (MLFC) using castor oil-induced diarrhoea model in rats.
Methods: The activity of MLFC against castor oil-induced diarrhoea, intestinal fluid accumulation (enteropooling), and gastrointestinal motility were evaluated. The experimental animals were grouped into five, each with four animals. Group 1 received distilled water, while group 2 received loperamide and served as negative and standard control groups respectively. Groups 3 - 5 were administered 200, 400 and 600 mg/kg of MLFC respectively. One-hour post-treatment, castor oil (p.o.) was used to induce diarrhoea in all the groups. The activity of MLFC was tested against castor oil-induced looseness of stool, fluid accumulation in the intestine and intestinal motility of charcoal meal. Its effect on electrolyte concentration in the small intestinal content was assessed; furthermore, its effect on the electrolyte concentrations of Na+, Cl-, K+, and HCO3- in supernatants obtained from the intestinal loop effluents of the rats was evaluated.
Results: The MLFC produced a significant (p < 0.05) and dose-dependent decrease in the severity of diarrhoea and frequency of watery stool passed in castor oil-induced diarrhoea, enteropooling, gastrointestinal transit of charcoal meal in rats and serum concentrations of sodium and chloride ions, while significant (p < 0.05) increase in potassium and bicarbonate ion concentrations were observed when compared with diarrhoeal control group. Similar inhibitory effects were obtained for loperamide control group.
Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that methanol leaf fraction of Cola hispida possesses anti-diarrhoeal properties by inhibiting intestinal peristalsis and hypersecretion of water and electrolytes. Thus, the findings lend some support to the traditional use of the plant for the treatment of diarrhoea
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