Antidiarrheal Potential of Methanol Extract of Combretum dolichopetalum and its Fractions in Wistar Albino Rats

Abstract

Aim: The study investigated the antidiarrheal potential of methanol extract of Combretum dolichopetalum and its solvent fractions. Method: Leaves of Combretum dolichopetalum were extracted using methanol as solvent. This was classified as the crude methanol extract (MECD). The crude extract was further fractionated using column chromatographic techniques to get various fractions. Castor oil was used to induce diarrhea in the animals, following atropine and the plant extracts to confirm any antidiarrheal activity. Fecal excretion and absorption/secretion ratio, enteropooling, small intestinal transit, glucose estimation, free fatty acid estimation and fecal osmolarity were employed to serve as antidiarrheal biomarker. Result: result showed improvements in all studied biomarkers compared to the negative control. The extract worked similarly like the standard drug used atropine. Conclusion: From the result of this study, it can be concluded that the methanol extract of Combretum dolichopetalum and it fractions contains compounds with antidiarrheal potentials, and this justifies it use in ethnomedicine.