Abstract
Pulegone is an allelochemical widely occurring
in plants of the Labiatae family. Pulegone has a pleasant mint like odor and
therefore is used, directly or as a constituent of a variety of essential oils,
in beverages and processed foods for human consumption. Methods: To evaluate the
antidiarrheal activity of pulegone using various pharmacological models, the
intestinal transit, castor oil induced diarrhea and enteropooling methods were
used in this study. The acute toxicity and lethality of pulegone was determined
using the Lorke’s method. Results: The pulegone was practically nontoxic
administered p.o. The LD50 was 570 mg/kg given p.o. Pulegone (25–100
mg/kg, p.o.) produced insignificant reduction in propulsive movement in the
normal and significant (P < 0.05) reduction in castor oil induced intestinal
transit tests in rats. Peak effect was elicited at 25 mg/kg but this effect was
higher than that produced by loperamide (3 mg/kg, p.o.). In the castor oil
induced diarrhea test, high dose of pulegone significantly delayed the onset
but did not decrease the frequency and severity of diarrhea. Pulegone at the
dose of 25 mg/kg significantly reduced the volume of intestinal secretion
induced by castor oil but produced no effect on diarrhea parameters. Conclusion: The results obtained
in this study suggest that the pulegone did not possess antidiarrheal property
due to weak inhibition of gastrointestinal propulsion and
fluid secretion.