Abstract: OBJECTIVE:To evaluate the antidiarrheal effect of jujube honey on experimentally castor oil-induced diarrhea in mice by using different testing models(diarrhea, enteropooling and gastrointestinal motility).METHODS:The mice intragastric administration castor oil was post-treated after 30 min with jujube honey, diluted jujube honey and loperamide or vehicles in different experimental groups. The onset and number of wet defecation on the absorbent paper was recorded for each animal for 4 h. Plasma was examined for C-reactive protein(CRP) and nitric oxide(NO) for clinical inflammation evaluation.The oxidative stress was investigated by superoxide dismutase(SOD) and catalase levels.RESULTS:The diluted jujube honey exhibited an important antidiarrheal activity manifested by significant delay in onset of diarrhea(P < 0.05), loss in number of wet stools(P < 0.001), total number of stools(P < 0.001) and total stool weight of fecal output(P < 0.001) in 4 h in castor oil-induced diarrheal groups. The inhibition of intestinal transit of charcoal meal(P < 0.01) is a most likely mechanism that may account for antidiarrheal effect of jujube honey. It also significantly increased SOD and catalase levels(P < 0.001) and significantly decreased CRP and NO in plasma diarrheic mice(P < 0.01).CONCLUSION:The results of this research reveal that the jujube honey contains pharmacologically active compounds with antidiarrheal properties.However, diluted honey is more effective in the treatment of diarrhea and imbalance of intestinal motility. In conclusion, these findings illustrated the antidiarrheal activity effect of jujube honey and which has the strongest evidence supporting its use in the treatment of diarrhea in traditional medicine.

Key words: diarrhea, Jujube honey, castor oil, intestinal motility, mice