Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Antidiarrhea and Antioxidant Activities of Honokiol Extract from Magnoliae officinalis cortex in Mice

Xuefeng Han¹, Yuelan Pang^2,3, Shimin Liu⁴, Zhiliang Tan¹, Shaoxun Tang¹, Chuanshe Zhou¹, Min Wang¹, Wenjun Xiao²

¹Key Laboratory of Agro-ecological Processes in Subtropical Region, Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changsha, Hunan 410125; ²National Research Center of Engineering & Technology for Utilization of Botanical Functional Ingredients, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, Hunan 410128; ³Tea Science and Research Institute of Guilin. Guangxi, Guilin, Guangxi 541004, China; ⁴School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009 Australia.

For correspondence:- Wenjun Xiao Email: xiaowenjungong@163.com Tel:+8673184673760

Received: 14 May 2014 Accepted: 12 September 2014 Published: 19 October 2014

Citation: Han X, Pang Y, Liu S, Tan Z, Tang S, Zhou C, et al. Antidiarrhea and Antioxidant Activities of Honokiol Extract from Magnoliae officinalis cortex in Mice. Trop J Pharm Res 2014; 13(10):1643-1651 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v13i10.11

© 2014 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the antidiarrhea and antioxidant properties of honokiol extracted from Magnoliae officinalis cortex (bark of Magnolia officinalis), an important medical material in traditional Chinese medicine, for treating diseases such as diarrhea and thrombotic stroke.

Methods: The antidiarrhea activity of honokiol was investigated using castor oil-induced diarrhea as well as neostigmine-induced increase in small intestine transit in mice. In castor oil-induced diarrhoea test, mice received honokiol (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg BW) orally once daily for 1 day and the mice’ droppings were observed. In small intestine transit test, mice received honokiol (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg BW) orally once daily for 4 days and the percentage distance travelled by charcoal meal was noted to determine. For the determination of anti-oxidant activity, with 50 mg/kg vitamin E as positive control, the mice were administered with 25, 50 or 100 mg/kg honokiol orally and daily for 14 days. The activity and gene expression of antioxidative enzymes as well as antioxidant status were monitored to assess the antioxidant potential of honokiol.

Results: All doses of honokiol showed (p < 0.001) significant inhibitory activity against castor oil-induced diarrhea when compared with model control (diarrhea Index, 1.10 vs. 1.39)-. Honokiol at all doses also reduced neostigmine-stimulated small intestinal transit by approximately 16 % in comparison with -neostigmine control group-(59.0 % vs. 70.1%). Compared with control (no honokiol), the activities of catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) in the plasma (CAT, 7.31 vs. 13.21 U/mL; GSH-Px, 439.6 vs. 608.9 U/m; T-SOD, 82.2 vs. 109.8 U/mL) and liver (CAT, 7.73 vs. 14.39 U/mg; GSH-Px, 167.6 vs. 202.7 U/mg; T-SOD, 44.3 vs. 53.9 U/mg) were significantly enhanced by honokiol (p < 0.01). CAT and GSH-Px gene expressions were also significantly enhanced by honokiol (p < 0.05), compared with control (no honokiol) (CAT, 0.32 vs. 0.39; GSH-Px, 4.49 vs. 5.80). Additionally, total antioxidant capacity was increased by 60 % with 100 mg/kg honokiol.

Conclusion: The results provide some justification for the use of Magnoliae officinalis cortex as an antidiarrheal remedy in Chinese traditional medicine. The fact that honokiol also enhanced both the non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidant defense systems, suggests its potential as a natural antioxidant.

Keywords: Magnoliae officinalis cortex, Honokiol, Antidiarrheal, Small intestinal transit, Antioxidant, Gene expression