Ameliorative Effects of Aqueous Extract of Avocado Pear Seed on Castor Oil Induced Diarrhea in Experimental Animals

Adeniyi OS^1*, Tion DP¹, Ako M¹, Bamise O²

¹Department of Physiology, Faculty of Basic and Allied Medical Sciences, Benue State University, Makurdi, Nigeria.

²Department of Basic Medical Sciences, School of Basic Medical Science & Allied Programmes, College of Health Sciences & Technology, Ijero – Ekiti. Ekiti State Nigeria.

*Correspondence

Adeniyi OS

Email: supoadeniyi@yahoo.com

Tel: +234838629046

Abstract

Diarrheal diseases affect billions of people globally and is the second leading cause of death in children under 5 years. Despite the efforts of governmental and non-governmental organizations to prevent or cure this disease, the burden of diarrheal diseases continues to be high. Therefore, there is need to further discover effective antidiarrheal drugs that are readily available and cheap to obtain with little or no side effects. Herbs and natural products have been used in the treatment of diarrhea; hence this study was carried out to investigate the effects of aqueous extract of avocado pear seed (AEAPS) on castor oil induced diarrhea in experimental animals. Fifty female Wistar rats weighing 100 – 120 g were used. The antidiarrheal effects of 200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg and 600 mg/kg of AEAPS was carried out by investigating its effect on; faecal pellet output, castor oil induced diarrhea, intestinal enteropooling and intestinal transit time of charcoal meal. Result showed that 400mg kg and 600 mg/kg AEAPS significantly (P< 0.05) reduced the number of faecal pellets from rats and the number of wet faecal pellets in castor oil induced diarrhea. The AEAPS at a dose of 400 mg/kg, 600 mg/kg and loperamide significantly (P< 0.05) inhibited intestinal enteropooling by 69.37%, 57.66% and 72.07% respectively.  The treatments also significantly (P< 0.05) inhibited intestinal transit by 21.75%, 21.45% and 24.96% respectively relative to that in castor oil treated rats. The results suggest that AEAPS possess antidiarrheal effects that it exerts through antisecretory and antimotility mechanisms.

Keywords: Antisecretory, Antimotility, Avocado pear seed, Diarrhea.