Anti-inflammatory and anti-diarrheal effects of methanolic extracts of seeds and peel of Nephelium longan fruits in rats

Abstract

Herbal medicines are playing a vital role in the remedy of numerous diseases. Preliminary phytochemical screening of the methanolic extracts of seeds (MNLS) and peel (MNLP) of Nephelium longan revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins and flavonoids. For antidairrheal screening, we have followed Castoroil- induced method whereas to check anti-inflammatory property, we used carrageenan-iduced rat paw edema in Long-Evan rats. Two doses (250 and 500 mg/Kg) of the extracts and one dose of indomethacin as reference was used. Both extracts significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the formation of oedema induced by carrageenan in a dose-depending manner. MNLP and MNLS also exhibited anti-diarrheal action in dosedepending manner and all the results were found to be significant (p < 0.05) in comparison to loperamide. The outcomes indicate the potent anti-inflammatory and anti-diarrhoeal effects of N longan extracts on living models which are comparable with those of standard drugs such as indomethacin and loperamide respectively and support their conventional uses as medicine.