Composition and Antidiarrheal Activity of Bidens odorata Cav.

The antidiarrheal effects of chloroform, methanol, and aqueous extracts of Bidens odorata Cav. were investigated at doses of 200 mg/kg on castor-oil-induced diarrhea. The chloroform extract of B. odorata (CBO) reduced diarrhea by 72.72%. The effect of CBO was evaluated on mice with diarrhea induced by castor oil, MgSO4, arachidonic acid, or prostaglandin E-2. CBO inhibited the contraction induced by carbachol chloride on ileum (100 mu g/mL) and intestinal transit (200 mg/kg) in Wistar rats. The active fraction of CBO (F4) at doses of 100 mg/kg inhibited the diarrhea induced by castor oil (90.1%) or arachidonic acid (72.9%) but did not inhibit the diarrhea induced by PGE(2). The active fraction of F4 (FR5) only was tested on diarrhea induced with castor oil and inhibited this diarrhea by 92.1%. The compositions of F4 and FR5 were determined by GC-MS, and oleic, palmitic, linoleic, and stearic acids were found. F4 and a mixture of the four fatty acids inhibited diarrhea at doses of 100 mg/kg (90.1% and 70.6%, resp.). The results of this study show that B. odorata has antidiarrheal effects, as is claimed by folk medicine, and could possibly be used for the production of a phytomedicine.