Antidiarrhoeal activity of nonanal, an aldehyde isolated from Artemisia ludoviciana

The antidiarrhoeal activity of the essential oil obtained from A. ludoviciana was analyzed. Nonanal was identified as the compound responsible for this biological effect. The pure compound was tested on castor oil-, magnesium sulfate-, arachidonic acid- and PGE(2)-induced diarrhoea in CD1 mice. In addition, its effect on the intestinal transit of Wistar rats stimulated by castor oil was studied. Nonanal showed a significant inhibitory effect on mice with diarrhoea induced with castor oil, MgSO4 and arachidonic acid. However, with the PGE(2)-induced diarrhoea model, the effect was smaller. It also showed an important delayed the intestinal transit activity 30 min after its administration. The compound does not have a constipating effect because it does not showed any effect on normal defecation of mice. The nonanal isolated from A. ludoviciana showed symptomatic relief of induced diarrhoea.