Abstract

Diarrhea is one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in children under age of 5 years. In view of this problem, the World Health Organization has encouraged studies for treatment and prevention of diarrhoeal diseases depending on traditional medicinal practices. Extracts of Phoenix dactylifera (date palm) are widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various disorders. In this study, the antidiarrhoeal activity of the aqueous fruit extract of Phoenix dactylifera was investigated by castor oil- induced diarrhoea, enteropooling and gastrointestinal motility activity in Wistar rats. Like the standard drug (5mg/kg loperamide), the extract (1000 and 1500mg/kg body weight) elicited a significant decrease in the severity of diarrhoea. The extract significantly (p<0.05) reduced the frequency of defaecation and as well decreased gastrointestinal motility. In the enteropooling study, the extract administered at 1000mg/kg had greater anti-enteropooling effect than the standard drug (5mg/kg loperamide). The result obtained shows that the aqueous fruit extract of Phoenix dactylifera may contain some pharmacologically active substances with antidiarrhoeal properties. This may be the basis for management of gastrointestinal disorders.

Keywords:

Antidiarrheal, castor oil, enteropooling, gastrointestinal transit, Phoenix dactylifera, wistar rat,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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The authors have no competing interests.