Phytochemical screening & evaluation of ant diarrheal mode of action of leaves extracts of Paederia foetida linn

For medicinal purpose, decoction of the whole plant P. foetida or leaf, stem bark juice are prepared. Tender leaves are boiled and eaten with chili and salt as food. Tribal people of Chittagong hill tracts of Bangladesh and Aka tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, India consume the leaf juice to treat diarrhea, dysentery, and burns or scalding. It has also been reported that, the powder form of the whole plant is taken by certain tribal communities in India for weakness and rheumatic joint pains. Though the plant has traditional usage as an anti diarrheal, there were limited studies to evaluate its anti diarrheal mode of action. Current study evaluates the preliminary phytochemical screening and anti diarrheal mode of action of aqueous & methanolic extracts of leaves of P. foetida. Preliminary phytochemical study revealed the presence of steroid, alkaloid, saponin, flavonoid, phenolic acids and tannin in the leaves extracts. Swiss albino mice of either sex were divided into six groups (five/ group): Group-I served as control and received vehicle (0.9% NaCl-saline) at a dose of 2 ml/kg orally; Group-II served as standard and received loperamide at the dose of 5mg/ kg i.p; Group-III and IV received aqueous extract of Paederia foetida , whereas group-V and VI received ethyl-acetate extract of Paederia foetida at doses of 200 and 300mg/ kg i.p, respectively. Castor-oil induced diarrhea, castor-oil induced enteropooling and gastrointestinal motility test were performed to investigate anti diarrheal activity of these extracts at given groups and concentrations. Acute-toxicity test was also performed at four different doses. The diarrheal episode was inhibited by 39.68% and 49.21% for aqueous extract whereas 47.62% and 53.97% for ethyl acetate extract at the doses of 200 and 300mg/kg respectively. The aqueous extract significantly (p<0.05) decreased the intestinal volume (0.48±0.04ml for 300mg/kg). Ethyl acetate extract also shown the similar result (0.47±0.027ml for 300mg/kg) for the same dose compared to control (0.65±0.03ml) in castor-oil induced enter opooling. Furthermore, decreased intestinal transit (57.1–62.34%) were observed for aqueous extract whereas (59.43–63.50%) for ethyl acetate extract compared to standard (loperamide 5mg/kg). No delayed toxicity was also observed for both of these extracts. Though both the extracts showed potential antidiarrheal activity however the ethyl acetate extract showed more significant activity than the aqueous extract of Paederia foetida . The mode of anti diarrheal activity is due to both the inhibition of gastrointestinal motility and enteropooling activities.