Antioxidant and antimutagenic activities of bark extract of Terminalia arjuna

Objective:The alcoholic extract of stem bark of Terminalia arjuna（ALTA） was screened for antioxidant and antimutagenic（anticlastogenic） activity.Methods:Antioxidant property was determined by l,l,Diphynyl,2-Picryl hydrazyl（DPPH） assay,super oxide radical scavenging activity,lipid peroxidation assay and total polyphenolic content was determined by Folin-Ciocalteau’s reagent.Antimutagenic activity was evaluated using micronucleus test in mice. Results:The ALTA has shown potent antioxidant activity with EC50 of 2.491±0.160,50.110±0.150 & 71.000±0.250 in DPPH assay,superoxide radical scavenging activity and lipid peroxidation assay, which is comparable with ascorbic acid with EC50 of 2.471±0.140,40.500±0.390 and 63.000±0.360 respectively.In micronucleus test,ALTA（100 & 200 mg/kg,p.o.） showed significant reduction in percentage of micronucleus in both polychromatic erythrocytes（PCE） and normochromatie erythrocytes（NCE） and also shown significant reduction in P/N ratio.Conclusions:These results suggested that ALTA possess significant antioxidant and antimutagenic activity.

Antidiarrheal effect of fractions from stem bark of Thespesia populnea in rodents:Possible antimotility and antisecretory mechanisms

Objective:To evaluate antidiarrheal activity of the fractions of aqueous extract from stem barks of Thespesia populnea（Malvaceae）.Methods:From the aqueous extract three fractions namely ethyl acetate fraction（EAF）,methanolic fraction（MF） and residue fraction（RF） were made and stuthed for antidiarrheal activity.Antidiarrheal activity of the fractions were evaluated in castor oil induced diarrhea,prostaglandin E2（PG-E2） induced diarrhea and charcoal meal test as in vivo models and the most potent fraction was further evaluated with in vitro models to determine the possible antimotility effect.Results:In castor oil induced diarrhea model,the RF（10,25,50 and 100 mg/kg,po.） and MF（100 mg/kg,po.） has significantly reduced the cumulative wet faecal mass,where as the EAF have not shown any significant antidiarrheal activity,RF was found to be more potent than MF.Based on these results and percentage yield,only RF was evaluated in PGE2 induced enteropooling and charcoal meal test.RF（10,25 and 50 mg/kg） had shown significant inhibition of PG-E2 induced secretions（antisecretory） and decreased the movement of charcoal in charcoal meal test indicating its antimotility activity.Furthermore,RF has showed significant inhibition of acetylcholine,histamine and BaCl2 induced contractions on rat colon,guinea pig ileum and rabbit jejunum with EC50 values of 241.7,303.1 and 286.1μg/mL,respectively indicating the antimotility effect of RF.The phytochemical analysis of RF showed presence of gums and mucilages and the possible mechanism may be the combination inhibition of elevated prostaglandin biosynthesis and reduced propulsive movement of the intestine.Conclusions: RF possesses good antidiarrheal activity comparing with other two fractions and the possible mechanism thought to be associated with combination of antisecretory and antimolity.