Ameliorative Effects of Virgin Coconut Oil in Loperamide Induced Constipation in rats

Abstract

Constipation is one of the most common gastrointestinal disorders that affects people of all ages and is mostly treated using orthodox drugs that often have side effects; therefore, this research aims to investigate the effects of a natural product; virgin coconut oil (VCO) in the treatment of loperamide induced constipation in rats. Twenty-five male Wistar rats weighing 80-100 g were divided into 5 groups as follows: Group 1 was control group that received 5 mL/kg/day normal saline (NS) only. All the other groups were treated with 4 mg/Kg loperamide to induce constipation. After 1 hour of loperamide treatment, Group 2 were treated with 5 mL/Kg NS, Group 3, 0.6 mL/day VCO (MVCO); Group 4, 0.9 mL/day VCO (HVCO) and Group 5 rats, 2 mg/Kg bisacodyl. The period of treatment was 3 days, and they were administered orally. Daily food consumption, number, weight and water content of feces, and intestinal transit time of charcoal meal were determined. Result showed that food consumption was significantly (P < 0.05) lower in loperamide alone group than other groups of animals. By days 1 and 3, the number of fecal pellets, weight of wet feces, weight of dry feces, and water content of feces in MVCO treated and control rats were significantly (P <0.05) higher than loperamide +NS. The intestinal transit time in MVCO treated rats (54.47 ± 3.22%) was however not significantly different from loperamide + NS (56.51 ± 2.51%). In conclusion, VCO ameliorated loperamide induced constipation by increasing the frequency of defecation, weight and water content of feces.

Evaluations of the in vivo laxative effects of aqueous root extracts of Euclea racemosa L. in mice

“…Likewise, the normal control group was given 10 ml/kg of distilled water for the same duration. Access to food and water was provided to all of the animals during the treatment period [ 10 , 11 ].…”

Therapeutic Effect of N-Hexane Extract of Zingiber Officinale (Ginger Oil) on Loperamide Induced Constipation in Wistar Rats

“…are implicated in constipation. Other causes of constipation include the use of organic compounds such as morphine, stress, nutritional disorders, secretory dysfunction, gastrointestinal motility dysfunction and alterations in gastrointestinal innervation (Park et al, 2016;Adeniyi et al, 2020;Diaz et al, 2023). Various laxatives stool softeners as well as secretagogue and prokinetic drugs are used in the treatment of constipation (Sharma & Rao, 2017).…”

“…Ginger oil was prepared from mature ginger rhizomes by maceration method using n-hexane as solvent for the extraction according the method described by Srivastava et al (2021). Constipation was induced with loperamide (LP) at a dosage of 4mg/kg/day (Adeniyi et al, 2020). Three groups from the constipated animal models were given n-hexane extract of ginger (ginger oil) at various doses after one 1 hour of pre-treatment with loperamide (Lim et al, 2019).…”

Comparative Assessment on the Ameliorative Potency of Palm Kernel Oil and Coconut Water on Castor Oil-induced Diarrhea

“…Loperamide is often used to induce constipation, it is an opioid agonist that inhibits intestinal water secretion and colonic peristalsis thereby extending fecal evacuation time and delaying intestinal luminal transit 14 .…”