Cissampelos sympodialis Eichl. (Menispermaceae), a medicinal plant, presents antimotility and antidiarrheal activity in vivo

BACKGROUND: Cissampelos sympodialis (Menispermaceae), known as “Milona” has a specific verified medicinal use for the treatment of diarrhea and respiratory tract diseases. This work aims to evaluate the antimotility and antidiarrheal activity of crude ethanolic extract (EtOHE-Cs), and the total alkaloid fraction (TAF-Cs) obtained from aerial parts of C. sympodialis. METHODS: Normal intestinal transit and gastric emptying were used to evaluate antimotility activity. Castor oil-induced diarrhea and castor oil-induced enteropooling were used to evaluate antidiarrheal activity. RESULTS: The results indicated that EtOHE-Cs has no antimotility activity, but did demonstrate antidiarrheal activity (at 500 mg/kg), and this activity is related to reduction of intestinal fluid accumulation. The TAF-Cs (at 250 and 500 mg/kg) showed antidiarrheal activity by reducing gastrointestinal motility (gastric emptying and normal intestinal transit). CONCLUSIONS: The antidiarrheal activity of C. sympodialis can be attributed to the chemical compounds already isolated and quantified in this species, mainly alkaloids.