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. INTRODUCTION: Ceriops decandra (C. decandra) (Griff.) Ding Hou (Family: Rhizophoraceae) locally known as Goran and Cuttia (Bengali) is a medium-sized straight, columnar, evergreen tree, under favorable conditions reaching up to 35 m in height distributed widely throughout the east coast of Bangladesh and India, southwestern Thailand and western part of the Malay peninsula. This mangrove species C. decandra has long been used as a traditional folk remedy for angina, diabetes, diarrhea, dysentery, wounds and boils 1, . A new epoxy ent-kaurene diterpenoid ceriopsin E was isolated from C. decandra . Two diterpenoids, ceriopsins F and ceriopsins G have been isolated from the bark of C. decandra . The leaf, bark and pneumatophore of C. decandra possess antinociceptive, antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory activities 5, 6, .