Underlying Mechanisms of Anti-spasmodic, Antidiarrheal, Antioxidant and Acute Toxicity Assessments of Aqueous Extract of Mentha Suaveolens Ehrh and its Fourier Transform Infra-red Spectroscopy Analysis

Objective: The aim of this present study is to investigate the antidiarrheal, spasmolytic and antioxidant activities of aqueous extract of Mentha suaveolens Ehrh (AEMS), to study their underlying mechanisms in animal models and to reveal its main functional groups using Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FTIR).

Methods: Mentha suaveolens Ehrh was studied for antidiarrheal activity on Wistar rats of both sexes at the doses of 200 and 800 mg/kg body weight using castor oil-induced diarrhea, castor oil-induced enteropooling and small intestinal transit models.

The extract was studied for antispasmodic property in isolated rabbit jejunum using various spasmogenic agents including Ach (10-5M), KCl (100 mM) and in the absence and in the presence of L-NAME (10-4 M) and the methylene blue (10-5 M).The antioxidant capacity of AEMS was carried out using DPPH radical scavenging activity and the ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP). Ascorbic acid and Butylated HydroxyToluene (BHT) were used as references. The functional chemical groups were determined by FTIR.

Results: The great antidiarrheal potential of AEMS seems to be mediated through calcium antagonism. The marked and concentration-dependent induced spasmolytic effect of AEMS appears to involve Ca2+ voltage channel blockade and the NO/cGMP pathway activation. AEMS possessed strong and concentration-dependent antioxidant potency using DPPH and FRAP. Polyphenols, carboxyl and carbohydrates were found to be the main functional groups in the AEMS analyzed by FTIR.

Conclusion: Overall, our current findings provide scientific proves in animal models for the traditional use of AEMS in folk medicine for the prevention or the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases in Morocco.