ANTIDIARRHOEAL ACTIVITY, NITRIC OXIDE SCAVENGING AND TOTAL TANNIN CONTENT FROM THE BARK OF CERIOPS DECANDRA (GRIFF.) DING HOU

The present study was designed to investigate the antidiarrhoeal, nitric oxide scavenging and total tannin content from the ethanolic extract of the bark of Ceriops decandra (Griff.) Ding Hou (Family: Rhizophoraceae). The ethanol extract at graded doses (200 & 400 mg/kg body weight) was investigated for antidiarrhoeal activity in term of reduction in the rate of defecation and consistency of faeces in castor oil induced diarrhoea. At the dose of 400 mg/kg body weight, the extract showed a significant anti-diarrhoeal activity showing 61.57% reduction in diarrhoea (P<0.05) comparable to that of standard drug loperamide 68.55%. Two complementary test systems, namely nitric oxide scavenging and total tannin contents were used for screening antioxidant activities. The ethanol  extract  showed  maximum scavenging activity  of  67.42 ±0.83% at  100 µg/ml,    where  as  ascorbic  acid  at  the  same concentration exhibited 81.13±0.74% inhibition. The IC₅₀ value for ethanolic extract was found fairly significant (63.59 μg/ml) while compared to the IC₅₀ value of the reference standard ascorbic acid (36.81 μg/ml). The total tannin content was also quite significant and high in ethanolic extract (276.52 mg/g of tannic acid equivalent). The results of the present study confirm antidiarrhoeal activity, nitric oxide scavenging and total tannin content from the bark of Ceriops decandra, thus provide the scientific basis for the traditional uses of this plant as the modality for diarrhoea and other pathological conditions where free radicals are implicated.