Preclinical Studies to Evaluate the Gut Stimulatory Activity of .

BACKGROUND

Constipation is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder. Medicines derived from nature are routinely used to treat it. The present study evaluates the gut stimulatory activity of (processed powder of ) using and models for gut stimulatory activity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

tests were conducted on isolated rat colon, guinea pig ileum, and rabbit jejunum, while study was performed using mice intestinal transit time. (. ) was tested at doses 0.2-200 mg/mL ( study) and 86.6 mg/kg ( study). studies were done in the presence and absence of atropine sulphate (1 ng/ml). The results were statistically analyzed, and < 0.05 was considered to indicate the significance.

RESULTS

. exhibited dose-dependent increase in the smooth muscle contraction of isolated gut tissues. Presence of atropine minimized the contractile responses and shifted the dose-response curves towards the right-hand side. The intestinal transit time in mice was observed to be increased significantly ( < 0.01) in . -treated animals, when compared with normal animals.

CONCLUSION

A mild smooth muscle contraction induced by . suggests that it can stimulate intestinal bowel movement without causing spasms. The diminished responses in the presence of atropine indicated that the gut stimulatory activity could be mediated partially through parasympathetic innervations. More studies are needed to determine the precise mechanism of action including the specific active ingredient responsible for the gut stimulatory activity.