Abstract

Earlier folklore claims reveal that Saussurea lappa Clarke (family Asteraceae) is used in the treatment of abdominal pain, dysentery and chronic skin diseases. This species has a good economic potential as its essential oil is commercially valuable in the flavour and fragrance industry. The major bioactive components of S. lappa are costunolide and dehydrocostus lactones. However, other sesquiterpene lactones are also active constituents. The present study reports antidiarrheal activity and major constitutes of S. lappa. Five groups of Wistar rats (210 to 230 g), each group consisting of 5 animals were taken for the study. Group I was kept as control, providing only saline while group II, III and IV were considered as test group, and the plant extracts (100, 300 and 500 mg/kg body weight) were administrated orally. The fifth group received the standard drug loperamide (5 mg/kg body weight). Qualitative and quantitative analysis of extracted essential oil of S. lappa was performed on Perkin-Elmer Gas Chromatography equipped with Perkin-Elmer-Clarus-500 Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The individual constituents were identified by comparing their mass spectra to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Wiley mass spectral libraries. We reported that application of three different doses of 100, 300 and 500 mg/kg inhibited diarrhea by 26.33, 32.28 and 66.77%, respectively. GC-MS analysis of extracted essential oil of S. lappa showed presence of sesquiterpenes, among these, β-castol and δ-elemene were found as major components. The methanol (MeOH) extract significantly exhibited antidiarrheal activity in dose dependent manner. The study supports the traditional claims of S. lappa as an antidiarrheal agent.

Key words: Qualitative and quantitative analysis, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), castor oil, loperamide, wistar rats.