PHARMACOGNOSTIC STUDIES AND ANTIDIARRHEAL EFFECT OF N-HEXANE AND ETHYL ACETATE FRACTIONS OF ETHANOL EXTRACT OF THE STEM BARK OF STERCULIA SETIGERA DEL. (MALVACEAE) IN ALBINO RATS

Diarrhea is a gastrointestinal disorder that is characterized by the passage of three or more loose or watery stools per day. The plant Sterculiasetigera Del., (Malvaceae), tree has different medicinal uses, for example, the water extracts of bark are used for jaundice and bilharzia, used in treating cough, diarrhea, fever, Tuberculosis, malaria, anemia, and as a diuretic. Macroscopic evaluation was carried out based on texture, odor, taste and color of the plant. Chemo-microscopic analysis was done for starch, calcium oxalate crystals, cellulose, and cutin. The stem bark Sterculiasetigeraextract was obtained by cold maceration technique in 70 % ethanol. The crude extract of Sterculiasetigerastem bark was further partitioned using n-hexane followed by ethyl acetate. Qualitative Phytochemical screening was done for tannins, saponins, alkaloids (dragendoff test, mayer’s test, wagner’s test) and anthrquinone. TLC was also carried out. The antidiarrheal effect was carried out using albino rats which were acclimatized for three weeks, weighed, and used for the experiments. The 24 rats were fasted for 18 hours and divided into eight groups with three animals in each group. The antidiarrheal activity of the plant fraction at the doses of 5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg was evaluated by using castor oil-induced diarrheal models in albino rats. Loperamide 2 mg/kg was used as he standard drug. The results for macroscopic were evaluated to be rough, aromatic, tasteless and brown respectively. The percentage yield of ethanol extracts was 7.41%. the percentage yield of n-hexane fraction was 0.09% while the percentage yield of ethyl acetate fraction was 44.55%. The results revealed the presence of starch, calcium oxalate crystals, cellulose, and cutin for chem-microscopic analysis. The pythochemical analysis of ethanol extract of Sterculiasetigerastem bark revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, tannins, and glycosides; absent of anthraquinone. The Rf values obtained from TLC were 0.86 and 0.67. The percent reduction in the frequency of defecation and diarrhea was increased with a corresponding increase in the dose of the plant extract. This increasing activity of the ethyl acetate fraction of Sterculiasetigerawith increasing the dose speculated that the ethyl acetate inhibits diarrhea more effectively at a relatively higher dose than n- the hexane fraction.