ANTI-DIARRHEA POTENTIAL OF CASSAVA POWDER (GARRI) IN CASTOR OIL INDUCED DIARRHEA RATS

Diarrhea Represents a disorder of the gastro-intenstinal transit which is characterized by a frequency of evacuation more than three times a day, stools of abnormal appearance, soft even liquid and volume unusually very high. Treatment of Diarrhea is gaining more research attentions due to the side effects associated with anti-diarrhea drugs like nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, constipation and so on. A total of forty-five (fifteen used for each of enteropooling, intestinal transit and diarrheal stool experiments) albino rats of both sexes weighing between 150-180 g were obtained from calbiotech Ilorin, Kwara State Nigeria and kept in plastic cages placed in well ventilated house condition, at room temperature, photoperiod of 12 hours natural light and 12 hours dark and humidity 45-50% at the Animal House of fulcrum biochemistry lab Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria for two weeks to acclimatize them prior to commencement of treatments. They were given food and water ad libitum. The cleaning of the cages was done daily. The research conformed strictly to the Principles of Laboratory Animal Care (NIH, 1996). The research protocols were approved by the Department of Science Laboratory Technology (Biochemistry Unit), Kwara State Polytechnic, Kwara State in 2024. Diarrhea was induced in the rats using the method described by Gerald et al. (2007). The animals were fasted for 18 hours but were allowed free access to water. Groups I, II and III were orally administered 1 ml of distilled water, DMSO and loperamide (2.5 mg/kg body weight) respectively. Groups IV, and V were orally administered cassava powder solution at same dose of 1ml/kg body weight respectively. After 30 minutes of treatment with drug and extract, each animal in all groups (except the normal control group) was orally administered 1 ml of castor oil. The time between oil administration and appearance of the first diarrhea drops was noted. Observations for determining the severity of diarrhea were assessed for a period of 6 hours by monitoring the diarrhea drops. The total number of faeces, diarrhea faeces and the total weight of faeces excreted were expressed as an average and compared with those of the control groups. The percentage inhibition of diarrhea defaecation in each group was also calculated using the formula. Effect of aqueous suspension of garri powder on castor-oil induced enteropooling in rats. The higher the volume of intestinal fluid (ml) the higher the diarrhea, the lower the volume of intestinal fluid (ml) the lower the diarrhea. From the result garri has the lowest volume of intestinal fluid which indicate that garri is more effective than loperamide. It can therefore be concluded that the aqueous suspension of cassava powder contains anti-diarrhea potentials that can be explored in the development of a viable anti- diarrhea drug. This substantiates the use of the cassava powder as an anti-diarrhea agent by Traditional medical practitioners. Furthermore, these positive effects of cassava powder shows that it may be an alternative in the treatment of diarrhea because it exerts effects similar to those of loperamide.