Table 2.

Effect of test materials from T. madagascariense at various doses on fecal characteristics in castor oil-induced diarrheal rats

Test materials	Faecal characteristics
	Dose (mg/kg)	% respondent	Latent period (min)	Total stool frequency	Purging indices	% inhibition of defecation	Frequency of wet stool	Water content (g)	Inhibition of wet stool (%)
Saline control	0	100	60.80 ± 6.62	10.20 ± 1.31	16.77	0	7.90 ± 0.73	3.22 ± 0.55 0	0
Methanol extract#	100	100	78.60 ± 5.75*	6.50 ± 2.12*	8.26	36.27	3.50 ± 0.70*	2.05 ± 0.59*	55.69
	200	100	119.9 ± 6.90*	4.10 ± 0.56*	3.41	59.80	2.40 ± 0.84*	1.47 ± 0.21*	69.62
	400	80	270.50 ± 37.88*	3.25 ± 0.67*	0.96	68.13	1.50 ± 0.53*	1.07 ± 0.48*	81.01
n-hexane fraction	80	100	70.00 ± 5.35	8.10 ± 1.19*	11.57 20.58	5.00 ± 0.66*	2.88 ± 0.25*	36.70
Ethyl acetate fraction	80	60	186.50 ± 23.61*	3.70 ± 0.94*	1.19	63.72	2.16 ± 0.98*	1.03 ± 0.36*	72.65
n-butanol fraction	80	70	112.14 ± 15.68*	5.90 ± 1.59*	3.68	42.15	2.71 ± 1.11*	2.00 ± 0.60*	65.69
Aqueous residue	80	90	111.17 ± 19.22*	5.20 ± 1.03*	4.20	49.01	2.66 ± 0.86*	1.53 ± 0.37*	66.32
Diphenoxylate HCl	2.5	50	361.00 ± 29.66*	2.90 ± 0.70*	0.40	71.56	1.20 ± 0.44*	0.68 ± 0.20*	84.81
Loperamide	2.5	60	337.16 ± 26.53*	3.70 ± 0.67*	0.65	63.72	2.16 ± 0.75*	1.05 ± 0.25*	72.65
Isoliquiritigenina	2.5	50	179.40 ± 11.65*	3.80 ± 0.90*	1.05	62.74	1.20 ± 0.44*	0.88 ± 0.22*	84.81

Values are means ± SD; n = 10 in each group.,

^*Significantly different from the saline control (P ≤ 0.001) Duncan test;

^#The methanol extract of T. madagascariens was fractionated into the n-hexane, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and aqueous residues fractions; aIsoliquiritigenin, the isolated compound, was tested at the same dose as the reference drugs (diphenoxylate HCl and loperamide).

^aIsoliquiritigenin, the isolated compound, was tested at the same dose as the reference drugs (diphenoxylate HCl and loperamide).