Antidiarrhoeal activity of Ziziphus mauritiana root extract in rodents

Preliminary phytochemical screening of the root extract of Ziziphus mauritiana revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins and volatile oil. Intraperitoneal LD50 of the extract was found to be 447.21 +/- 20 mg/kg (bw) in mice. The Antidiarrhoeal effect of the methanolic extract as evaluated exhibited a concentration dependent inhibition of the spontaneous pendular movement of the isolated rabbit jejunum and inhibited acetylcholine induced contraction of rat ileum. A dose dependent decrease of gastrointestinal transit was observed with extracts (25 and 50 mg/kg) which also protected mice against castor oil induced dirrhoea and castor oil induced fluid accumulation, respectively. The presence of some of the phytochemicals in the root extract may be responsible for the observed effects, and also the basis for its use in traditional medicine as antidiarrhoeal drug.