Diuretic and laxative activities of Kandelia candel and Brownlowia tersa in experimental mice

Abstract

Different fractionated extracts (in ethanol, n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and water) of two mangrove plants Kandelia candel and Brownlowia tersa have been investigated here for diuretic and laxative bioactivity. In diuretic test, frusemide (5 mg/kbw) was used as standard and the parameters like volume of urine up to 6th hour, pH, density, conductivity and Na+, K+, Cl- contents of collected urine were measured. Ethyl acetate fraction of Kandelia candel showed significant diuretic activity (p<0.001) at 200 mg/kbw and 400 mg/kbw dose compared with control. For aerial parts of Brownlowia tersa, chloroform fraction demonstrated better diuretic activity. Both the active fractions were found to work as loop diuretics. In laxative activity test, bisacodyl (10 mg/kbw) was used as standard and a significant percent increment of fecal output (p<0.0001) was observed for ethyl acetate fraction of Kandelia candel at both the doses. For Brownlowia tersa, the ethyl acetate and water fractions demonstrated significant laxative effect. Phytochemical analysis for both the plants extracts exhibited the presence of carbohydrate, reducing sugar, steroids, saponins, glycosides, tannins, alkaloids, terpenoids and flavonoids etc. Further studies may be carried to isolate and characterize the active compound(s) responsible for the claimed activity.