Research - Diarrhea
Role of Honey in Topical and Systemic Bacterial Infections
Muhammad Barkaat Hussain
Abstract
Background: The development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics has made it more difficult and expensive to treat infections. Honey is getting worldwide attention as a topical therapeutic agent for wound infections and potential future candidate for systemic infections.
Objectives: The purpose of this review was to summarise different antibacterial bio-active compounds in honey, their synergistic interaction and their clinical implications in topical and systemic infections. In addition, contemporary testing methods for evaluating peroxide and non-peroxide antibacterial activity of honey were also critically appraised.
Design: MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Pub Med, reference lists and databases were used to review the literature.
Results: Honey contains several unique antibacterial components. These components are believed to act on diverse bacterial targets, are broad spectrum, operate synergistically, prevent biofilm formation, and decrease production of virulence factors. Moreover, honey has the ability to block bacterial communication (quorum sensing), and therefore, it is unlikely that bacteria develop resistance against honey. Bacterial resistance against honey has not been documented so far. Unlike conventional antibiotics, honey only targets pathogenic bacteria without disturbing the growth of normal gastrointestinal flora when taken orally. It also contains prebiotics, probiotics, and zinc and enhances the growth of beneficial gut flora. The presence of such plethora of antibacterial properties in one product makes it a promising candidate not only in wound infections but also in systemic and particularly for gastrointestinal infections. Agar diffusion assay, being used for evaluating antibacterial activity of honey, is not the most appropriate and sensitive assay as it only detects non-peroxide activity when present at a higher level. Therefore, there is a need to develop more sensitive techniques that may be capable of detecting and evaluating different important components in honey as well as their synergistic interaction.
Conclusions: Keeping in view the current guidelines for treatment of diarrhea, honey is considered one of the potential candidates for treatment of diarrhea because it contains a natural combination of probiotics, prebiotics, and zinc. Therefore, it would be worthwhile if such a combination is tested in RCTs for treatment of diarrhea.
Source - Journal Alternative and Complementary Medicine
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Antidiarrheal activity of crude methanolic root extract ofIdigofera spicata Forssk.(Fabaceae)
- Eshetie Melese Birru
- Assefa Belay Asrie,
- Getnet Mequanint Adinew and
- Asegedech Tsegaw
Abstract
Background Till now many of medicinal plants having claimed therapeutic value traditionally are waiting scientific verification of their efficacy and safety. Accordingly this study is conducted to evaluate the antidiarrheal activity of hydromethanolic root extract of Indigofera spicata Forssk. in castor oil induced diarrhea model, misoprostol induced secretion model and its antimotility activity using charcoal as a marker.
Methods In all the three models the animals were randomly allocated into five groups of six animals each and then group I mice were received 1 ml/100 g normal saline, group II were treated with standard drug as a positive control whereas group III, IV and V were treated with 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg extract doses, respectively. Statistical significance of differences in the mean of number of defecations, fluid content of faces, intestinal fluid accumulation ratio, intestinal fluid weight and distance travelled by charcoal between groups was analyzed by SPSS version-21 using one way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc multiple comparison.
Result The hydromethanolic crude extract of Indigofera spicata at 200 and 400 mg/kg mg/kg doses showed statistically significant (p < 0.05) inhibition of the frequency of defecation and weight difference of the fluid content of the faces compared to the negative controls. For those doses the percentage inhibition of diarrheal feces was 43.62 and 53.51 %, respectively. The antisecretary activity of the extract in terms of fluid accumulation ratio was not found significant but in terms of intestinal fluid weight, all the extract doses revealed significant (p < 0.05) inhibition. Unlike the standard drug, the antimotility activity of the extract was not found statistically significant compared to the negative control.
Conclusion Root of Indigofera spicata Forssk. has shown promising antidiarrheal activity which validates its traditional use. Further studies are needed and possibly the plant may serve as a potential source of new agent in the therapeutic armamentarium of diarrhea.
Source : BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
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Antidiarrheal activity of ethanolic extract of Manihot esculenta Crantz leaves in Wistar rats
Satish E. Bahekar and Ranjana S. Kale1
Abstract
Background:Use of Manihot esculenta Crantz (MEC) plant has been mentioned in literature of Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations, Central Tuber Crops Research Institute and many others. It is also known commonly as tapioca, continues to be a crop of food security for the millions of people, especially in the developing countries of the globe including India. Medicinal uses of this plant including diarrhea have been mentioned in literature, but scientific evidence is lacking.
Objective:The objective was to study antidiarrheal activity of ethanolic leaf extract of MEC in Wistar rats.
Materials and Methods:Ethanolic extract of MEC leaves in the doses of 50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg were used in Wistar rats of either sex. Experimental models used were castor oil-induced intestinal fluid accumulation and charcoal passage test. Loperamide and atropine sulfate were the standard drugs used in these models respectively.
Results:MEC extracts decreased intestinal fluid volume in dose dependent manner no extract group was comparable with standard drug loperamide (5 mg/kg). MEC extracts also significantly inhibited gastrointestinal motility in dose dependent manner. MEC (100 mg/kg) and MEC (200 mg/kg) were comparable with standard drug atropine sulfate (5 mg/kg) in this aspect. <0.05 were considered to be significant.
Conclusions:Ethanolic extract of MEC leaves exhibited significant antidiarrheal activity by decreasing intestinal fluid accumulation and the gastrointestinal motility in Wistar rats.
Source : J Ayurveda Integr Med.
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Evaluation of antidiarrhoeal activity of aqueous bulb extract of Allium cepa against castor oil-induced diarrhoea
Author(s):K. Rajesh kumar, Afsar shaik, J. Venu Gopal, P. Raveesha
Abstract:
The objective of this study was to evaluate antidiarrhoeal activity of aqueous bulb extract of Allium cepa. The Antidiarrhoeal effect was evaluated by castor oil- induced diarrhoeal model in rats. Loperamide (3 mg/kg, p.o.) was taken as standard, aqueous bulb extract of Allium cepa 150 & 300 mg/kg was used as a test doses.The results showed significant (p<0.05) antidiarrhoeal activity on gastrointestinal motility with castor oil- induced diarrhoeal model in rats. The extract tested at 150 and 300 mg/kg shown similar effect as that of standard drug (loperamide) by significantly inhibiting the frequency of defecation droppings compared to untreated control rats. This result is in support of previous claims in respect of antidiarrhoeal herbs.The study revealed that the aqueous bulb extract possess Pharmacological activity against diarrhoea and may possibly explain the use of the plant in traditional medicine.
Source : International Journal of Herbal Medicine
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