Antidiarrhoeal activity of the standardised extract of Cinnamomum tamala in experimental rats

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the antidiarrhoeal potential of 50% ethanolic extract of Cinnamomum tamala on experimentally induced castor oil diarrhoea, gastric emptying of phenol red meal, gastrointestinal transit of charcoal meal and in vitro mast cell degranulation activity. C. tamala extract (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg, orally) produced a dose-dependent reduction in the total amount of faecal matter in castor oil-induced diarrhoea. The mean distance travelled by charcoal meal at 50 and 100 mg/kg of extract showed a significant reduction in the secretion of gastrointestinal fluid accumulation by 32.5-65.0%. The Na(+) and K(+) concentrations on castor oil-induced fluid accumulation showed a greater inhibitory effect on Na(+) levels than on K(+) concentrations. C. tamala significantly reduced the lipid peroxidation (P < 0.001) and increased the catalase (P < 0.01) activity in comparison to the castor oil-induced groups. C. tamala leaf extract did not show any significant effect at a higher dose (15 mg/ml) on mast cell degranulation. However, the extract in the dose of 5 and 10 mg/ml conferred significant mast cell protective action (P < 0.001). The percentage of eugenol in extract is 3.8% w/w, and total tannin is 247.5 mg/g. The result indicates the Indian spice C. tamala is useful for diarrhoea.

Implication of Oxidative Stress in Small Intestine Disorders, Constipation and Diarrhea: A Mini Review

“…Therefore, recent studies have shown that acute administration of castor oil increased the formation of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the GI tract mucosa indicating an increase in lipid peroxidation [13,14]. This process presents a possible mechanism of tissue alteration by oxygen reactive derivatives.…”

Flavonoid contents and antioxidant activities from Cinnamomum species

“…The plant leaf has a hot taste and emits a spicy odor when crushed (Jayaprakasha, Rao, & Sakaraiah, 2003). Previous studies on biochemical activities from Cinnamomum were mainly focused on its essential oils (Wang, Wang, & Yang, 2008) which included antioxidant, antimicrobial activity (Singh, Maurya, deLampasona, & Catalan, 2007) and antidiarrhoeal activity (Rao, Vijaykumar, Sairam, & Kumar, 2008). However, there is limited investigation concerning the use of Cinnamomum leaf as a natural antioxidant, even though it has been used as food and also folk medicine in India and China for the treatment of inflammation, gastritis, blood circulation, liver and spleen disorders (Anonymous, 1992;Lee & Balick, 2005).…”

Effect of hexane fraction of leaves of Cinnamomum tamala Linn on macrophage functions

“…(Lauraceae), commonly known as tejpat in Hindi, is a component of Indian spices and also associated with several therapeutic claims in Ayurveda, an alternative system of health care in India. Several pharmacological experiments have shown its antidiabetic (Chaddha and Tripathi 1973;Sharma et al 1996), antioxidant (Devi et al 2007), anti-diarrheal (Rao et al 2008) and anti-fungal (Dubey et al 1998) properties. It is rich in monoterpenoids such as linalool (50%) (Mir et al 2004), cinnamic aldehyde (Upadhaya et al 1994), flavones and eugenol (Mishra and Batra 1987;Baruah et al 2004).…”