Psidium guajava: a review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology.

The mainstays of caring for patients who have swallowed poison or been given an overdose of drugs are inhibition of absorption (in acute poisoning after oral injection) or specific treatment (if an...

Gastrointestinal clearance of drugs with activated charcoal

Asparagus racemosus--ethnopharmacological evaluation and conservation needs.

Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa has been widely used in indigenous systems of Indian medicine due to its various medicinal properties. However, despite its traditional usage as an anti-diarrhoeal there is limited information regarding its mode of action in infectious forms of diarrhoea. Hence, we evaluated the hot aqueous extract (decoction) of dried unripe fruit pulp of A. marmelos for its antimicrobial activity and effect on various aspects of pathogenicity of infectious diarrhoea. The decoction was assessed for its antibacterial, antigiardial and antirotaviral activities. The effect of the decoction on adherence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and invasion of enteroinvasive E. coli and Shigella flexneri to HEp-2 cells were assessed as a measure of its effect on colonization. The effect of the decoction on production of E. coli heat labile toxin (LT) and cholera toxin (CT) and their binding to ganglioside monosialic acid receptor (GM1) were assessed by GM1-enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay whereas its effect on production and action of E. coli heat stable toxin (ST) was assessed by suckling mouse assay. The decoction showed cidal activity against Giardia and rotavirus whereas viability of none of the six bacterial strains tested was affected. It significantly reduced bacterial adherence to and invasion of HEp-2 cells. The extract also affected production of CT and binding of both LT and CT to GM1. However, it had no effect on ST. The decoction of the unripe fruit pulp of A. marmelos, despite having limited antimicrobial activity, affected the bacterial colonization to gut epithelium and production and action of certain enterotoxins. These observations suggest the varied possible modes of action of A. marmelos in infectious forms of diarrhoea thereby validating its mention in the ancient Indian texts and continued use by local communities for the treatment of diarrhoeal diseases.

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Studies on the antidiarrhoeal activity of Aegle marmelos unripe fruit: Validating its traditional usage

In Ethiopia, Calpurnia aurea is used for the treatment of syphilis, malaria, rabies, diabetes, hypertension, diarrhoea, leishmaniasis, trachoma, elephantiasis, fungal diseases and different swellings. However, despite its traditional usage as an antidiarrhoeal and antimicrobial agent, there is limited or no information regarding its effectiveness and mode of action in diarrhoea which may be caused by Shigella flexneri, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi. Hence, we evaluated the 80% methanol (MeOH) extract of dried and powdered leaves of C. aurea for its antidiarrhoeal and antimicrobial activities. Swiss albino mice of either sex were divided into five groups (five/group): Group I served as control and received vehicle (1% Tween 80) at a dose of 10 ml/kg orally; Group II served as standard and received loperamide at the dose of 3 mg/kg orally; Groups III, IV and V served as test groups and received the 80% MeOH leaf extract of C. aurea at doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg orally, respectively. Diarrhoea was induced by oral administration of 0.5 ml castor oil to each mouse, 1 h after the above treatments. During an observation period of 4 h, time of onset of diarrhea, total number of faecal output (frequency of defecation) and weight of faeces excreted by the animals were recorded. Data were analyzed using one way analysis of variance followed by Tukey post test. Antimicrobial activity test was conducted using agar well diffusion assay. Clinical isolates tested were Salmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi, Salmonella typhimurium, Shigella species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.
 In castor oil induced diarrhea model, the 80% methanol leaf extract of C. aurea at 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg and the standard drug loperamide (3 mg/kg) significantly reduced the time of onset of diarrhea, the frequency of defecation (total number of faecal output) and weight of faeces. C. aurea leaf extract also showed good antimicrobial activity against all tested organisms. 
C. aurea possesses good antidiarrhoeal and antimicrobial activity which support the traditional use of the plant in the treatment of diarrhea in Ethiopia.

/pdf/antidiarrhoeal-and-antimicrobial-activity-of-calpurnia-aurea-4xj8liubfa.pdf

Antidiarrhoeal and antimicrobial activity of Calpurnia aurea leaf extract

PURPOSE: Asparagus racemosus Wild root has been used traditionally in Ayurveda for the treat- ment of diarrhoea and dysentery. However, the claims of Ayurveda need to be validated by a suitable experi- mental model. Therefore, the present study was under- taken to evaluate the effect of ethanol and aqueous extracts of Asparagus racemosus for its antidiarrhoeal potential against several experimental models of diar- rhoea in Albino Wistar rats. METHODS: The antidi- arrhoeal activity of ethanol and aqueous extracts of Asparagus racemosus root was evaluated using castor oil-induced diarrhoea model in rats. Further, we evalu- ated the effect of ethanol and aqueous extracts on gas- trointestinal tract motility after charcoal meal administration and PGE 2 induced intestinal fluid accu- mulation (enteropooling). Loperamide was used as pos- itive control. RESULTS: The plant extracts showed significant (P < 0.05) inhibitor activity against castor oil induced diarrhoea and PGE 2 induced enteropooling in rats when tested at 200 mg/kg. Both extracts also showed significant (P < 0.001) reduction in gas- trointestinal motility in charcoal meal test in rats. CONCLUSION: The results point out the possible anti-diarrhoeal effect of the plant extracts and substan- tiate the use of this herbal remedy as a non-specific treatment for diarrhoea in folk medicine.

https://www.ualberta.ca/~csps/JPPS8(1)/J.Perianayagam/asparagus.pdf

Vijaya Kumar Sg

Papers

Anti-diarrhoeal potential of Asparagus racemosus wild root extracts in laboratory animals.