How Can Traditional Ethopian Medicine Help Against Diarrhea? Antidiarrheal and Antispasmodic Avtivities of Stephania Abyssinica (Minispermaseae)

Masters Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject Medicine - Pharmacology, Pharmacy, grade: Very Good, Addis Ababa University (SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES), language: English, abstract: Diarrhea is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. The aim of this work was therefore to evaluate the antidiarrheal and antispasmodic activities ofthe aqueous and methanol extract of the root and leaf of S. abyssinica. Antidiarrheal activities were studied in mice using castor oil-induced diarrhea at doses of 25, 50,100, and 200 mg/kg body weight. The extracts significantly prolonged the time of diarrheal induction, increased diarrhea free time, reduced the frequency of diarrhea episodes, decreased the weight of stool, and decreased general diarrheal score in a dose dependent way. With dose of 200 mg/kg the extracts produced higher in-vivo antidiarrheal index (ADI) than the the standard loperamide. In Entropooling test in mice the extract significantly (p