Mikhail O Nafiu1,
Taoheed A Abdulsalam1,
Rukayat O Jimoh1,
Mutiu I Kazeem2 
For correspondence:- Mutiu Kazeem Email: mikazeem@gmail.com Tel:+2348030622000
Received: 24 November 2014 Accepted: 15 April 2015 Published: 29 June 2015
Citation: Nafiu MO, Abdulsalam TA, Jimoh RO, Kazeem MI. Ameliorative effect of Lecaniodiscus cupanioides (Sapindaceae) aqueous root extract in loperamide-induced constipated rats. Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(6):1057-1062 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i6.17
© 2015 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..
Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of aqueous root extract of Lecaniodiscus cupanioidies Planch. (Sapindaceae) against loperamide-induced constipation in Wistar rats.
Methods: Constipation was induced by oral administration of loperamide (3 mg/kg body weight). The constipated rats were orally treated daily either with 50, 150, 250 mg/kg body weight per day of the extract or 0.21 mg/kg bisacodyl (reference drug) for 7 days while the normal control group received distilled water. The feeding characteristics, body weight, faecal properties and gastrointestinal transit ratio were monitored throughout the study period. The activities of acid phosphatase (ACP), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ-glutaryltransferase (GGT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were also determined in the serum of the animals.
Results: There was significant decrease (p < 0.05) between normal and constipated rats in the number of faecal pellets (54.06 and 45.43) while body weight increased (124.45 and 135.38 g) respectively. Administration of 250 mg/kg L. cupanioides extract to the constipated rats significantly normalized (p < 0.05) their body weight gain (8.15 g) and gastrointestinal ratio (87.75) compared to the constipated control. Serum levels of ACP and AST were significantly elevated (p < 0.05) in the 150 and 250 mg/kg dose groups compared to controls while ALP witnessed reduction. However, there was no alteration in the levels of GGT and LDH across all groups.
Conclusion: The aqueous root extract of L. cupanioides possesses laxative activity in loperamide-induced constipated rats.
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