Cissampelos sympodialis Eichl. (Menispermaceae), a medicinal plant, presents antimotility and antidiarrheal activity in vivo.

BACKGROUND

Cissampelos sympodialis (Menispermaceae), known as "Milona" has a specific verified medicinal use for the treatment of diarrhea and respiratory tract diseases. This work aims to evaluate the antimotility and antidiarrheal activity of crude ethanolic extract (EtOHE-Cs), and the total alkaloid fraction (TAF-Cs) obtained from aerial parts of C. sympodialis.

METHODS

Normal intestinal transit and gastric emptying were used to evaluate antimotility activity. Castor oil-induced diarrhea and castor oil-induced enteropooling were used to evaluate antidiarrheal activity.

RESULTS

The results indicated that EtOHE-Cs has no antimotility activity, but did demonstrate antidiarrheal activity (at 500 mg/kg), and this activity is related to reduction of intestinal fluid accumulation. The TAF-Cs (at 250 and 500 mg/kg) showed antidiarrheal activity by reducing gastrointestinal motility (gastric emptying and normal intestinal transit).

CONCLUSIONS

The antidiarrheal activity of C. sympodialis can be attributed to the chemical compounds already isolated and quantified in this species, mainly alkaloids.