Laxative effects of agarwood on low-fiber diet-induced constipation in rats

Abstract

BackgroundAgarwood (Aquilaria sinensis), well known as incense in Southeast Asia, has been used as a digestive in traditional medicine. We investigated the laxative effects of an ethanol extract of agarwood leaves (EEA) in a rat model of low-fiber diet-induced constipation.MethodsA set of rats was bred on a normal diet while another set was placed on a low-fiber diet to induce constipation. The laxative effect of agarwood was then investigated on both sets of rats.ResultsPretreatment of normal rats with single dose of EEA (600 mg/kg, p.o.) significantly increased frequency and weight of stools. Also, treatments with EEA (300 and 600 mg/kg, p.o.) for 14 days caused a significant increase in stool frequency and weight. Feeding of the animals with a low-fiber diet resulted in a decrease in stool weight, frequency, and water content and also delayed carmine egestion. A single treatment with EEA (600 mg/kg) or senna (150 and 300 mg/kg) significantly increased stool frequency, weight, and water content and also accelerated carmine egestion in the model rats. Once daily administrations of EEA (150 mg/kg), for 14 days, caused a significant increase in water content of stools. The higher doses of EEA (300 and 600 mg/kg) significantly increased frequency, weight, and water content of the stools while accelerating carmine egestion in the constipated rats. Senna (150 and 300 mg/kg) produced similar effect as the higher doses of EEA but, in addition, induced severe diarrhea.ConclusionThese findings indicate that EEA has a laxative effect, without causing diarrhea, in a rat model of low-fiber diet-induced constipation. These findings suggest that EEA may be highly effective on constipation as a complementary medicine in humans suffering from life style-induced constipation.

Investigation of Agarwood Compounds in Aquilaria malaccensis & Aquilaria Rostrata Chipwood by Using Solid Phase Microextraction

“…Many of compounds detected in the main chromatograms of these sample were pyrolysis products especially in the smoke sample, while their present in the incense volatile are less and that can be resulted from the increased temperature which applied to burned sample, these products as toluene, furfural, o-xylem, benzaldehyde, phenol, p-methylanisol, salicylaldehyde, acetophenone, P-cresol, nonanal, naphthalene and vanillin; some of the sesquiterpenes are also can be pyrolyzed products from the resin. These finding also confirmed by Isihara (1993) and many of these pyrolyzed form are also reported by Pripdeevech (2011) in his study for the oil of agarwood [16,18,[29][30][31][32] The present of 2-butanone -4-phenyl are significant in the smoke sample only, while aromadendrene, elemol, dihydro β-agarofuran and ɤ-selinene are presented in the volatile sample more than smokes in both species of Aquilaria malaccensis & Aquilaria rostrata kessane has not reported before since the early studies on agarwood were carried out in the lower capacity of the used GCMS instrument today some of the investigation used 20 eV, and not, as usual, at 70 eV beside the uses of the more advance NIST library as search tool to identify the compounds [32][33][34].…”

Quantification of Polyphenols and Pharmacological Analysis of Water and Ethanol-Based Extracts of Cultivated Agarwood Leaves

“…(2)(3)(4). Here the laxative effects of five extracts (WEAL30, WEAL50, WEAL70, WEAL95, and 60EEAL-C) in a loperamide-induced constipation mouse model were investigated after analyzing the concentration of 1-6.…”

Dysbiosis Contributes to Chronic Constipation Development via Regulation of Serotonin Transporter in the Intestine

“…Fecal water content (%) was measured by comparing the weight of the pellets at the end of the experiment and after drying (24 hours at 37 °C). Water content (%) = (wet weight − dry weight)/wet weight × 100% according to the previous studies 60,61 .…”