Antidiarrheal and antiulcer activity of Stachytarpheta urticifolia Salisb (sims) in Wistar rats

Abstract

Introduction: Millions of people were dying in each year from third world countries due to diarrhea and peptic ulcers in non-industrial countries. Stachytarpheta urticifolia is endangering plants available in Eastern Ghats of India. It is used as a traditional medicine for curing of diseases. Materials and Methods: The material is collected from Araku Valley, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. Antidiarrheal and antiulcer activity was conducted on Wister rats as per the OECD 425 guidelines. No lethality was found in any of the groups after treatment up to 2000 mg/kg in acute toxicity test. Experiments were assessed based on histological studies. Results and Discussion: The results have shown that methanolic leaf extract of S. urticifolia (MESU) possess a significant antidiarrheal activity by inhibiting frequency of defecation and reduced greatly the weight of fecal excretions. Aspirin-induced gastric ulcers in animals showed extensive lesions that were restricted to glandular portions of the stomach as compared to control rats (P < 0.05), whereas oral administration of MESU lowered the ulcer index in Group III and Group IV of experimental animals. Conclusion: Methanolic extract of S. urticifolia was found to understand that it is rich in potent active principles which are able to inhibit the diarrheal and gastric ulcer effectively in experimental rats.