ANTI-CONSTIPATION POTENTIAL IN WISTAR RATS OF THE AQUEOUS LEAVES EXTRACT OF Cassia occidentalis (CAESALPINIACEAE), A PLANT USED IN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE FOR THE TREATMENT OF CONSTIPATION

The aim of this study is to evaluate in rats the anti-constipant potential of Cassia occidentalis (Caesalpiniaceae), a plant whose leaves are used in traditional medicine in Côte d'Ivoire for the treatment of constipation. Loperamide (3 mg/kg bw in 0.9% sodium chloride), administered orally toWistar rats for 3 days, induces the emission of reduced, hard, dry faecal pellets, evidence that these animals had become constipated, as in healthy rats faeces are abundant, soft and moist. This induced constipation is accompanied by a reduction in food and water consumption, and in the number, weight and water content of the faecal pellets emitted by these rats. Aqueous extract of Cassia occidentalis (EACo), administered orally at doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg bw to constipated rats, reduces these parameters in a dose-dependent manner, leading to a return to normal. This extract is therefore an anti-constipant. In addition, the use of activated charcoal as a marker of colonic movement shows that loperamide, when administered to rats, reduces the gastrointestinal transit ratio. EACo, at doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg bw, increases this gastrointestinal transit ratio in a dose-dependent manner towards normalisation in rats made constipated by loperamide. These results indicate that EACo is also a laxative. The anti-constipant and laxative effects of AECo, at a dose of 400 mg/kg bw, and those of bisacodyl (0.25 mg/kg bw) are similar on loperamide-induced constipation in rats. This indicates that EACo acts like bisacodyl, a standard pharmaceutical drug used as a laxative in the treatment of constipation. These results provide scientific support for the anti-constipant and laxative potential of the aqueous extract of Cassia occidentalis leaves (Caesalpiniaceae) and justify the use of this plant in traditional medicine for the treatment of constipation.