Table 3.

Effect of extract of flowers of I. coccinea on castor oil induced small intestinal transit in rats

Treatment	Total length of intestine	Distance travelled by Marker	% of Intestinal transit
Saline (2 ml/kg po)	85.8 ± 2.68	82.81 ± 3.01	96.45
Castor oil + saline (2 ml/kg ip)	78.21 ± 2.92	76.68 ± 2.76	90.37
Castor oil + loperamide (5 mg/kg ip)	94.91± 2.84	38.58 ± 2.76**	40.65
Castor oil + extract (100 mg/kg ip)	71.51 ± 4.82	73.88 ± 4.36	70.48
Castor oil + extract (200 mg/kg ip)	83.83 ± 3.04	63.23 ± 1.78**	75.58
Castor oil + extract (400 mg/kg ip)	86.06 ± 2.21	59.1 ± 3.34**	68.95

Extract was administrated ip 1 h before castor oil administration. Values are expressed as mean ± SEM from the experiments.

^*P<0.01

^**P<0.001 when compared with castor oil + saline treated group