Assessment of Antidiarrheal and Superoxide Scavenging Activities of Ethanolic Frond Extract from Stenochlaena palustris Bedd.

The present study aimed to evaluate the antidiarrheal and superoxide scavenging activities of ethanolic extract of Stenochlaena palustris, an edible fern from Blechnaceae family. The antidiarrheal activity was determined against castor oil induced diarrhea model, gastrointestinal transit and enteropooling tests in Swiss albino mice. The test groups received various doses (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg, body weight) of the extract, whereas positive control received loperamide (3 mg/kg, b.w.) and negative control was supplied with 1% tween-80 in distilled water (10 mL/kg, b.w.). At three test doses (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg), the extract showed significant (p < 0.001) and dose dependent antidiarrheal activity in all models. The delay and reduction in the onset, frequency, and weight of diarrheic feces as well as inhibition of the gastrointestinal transit and intraluminal fluid accumulation were observed in all models and highly comparable to the standard loperamide. The extract also exhibited high inhibitory ability to scavenge superoxide anion (O2 • ). The highest percentage inhibition of superoxide anion was found to be 84.32 ± 0.15% at the concentration 800 μg/mL.