Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Nov 15:10:68.
doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-10-68.

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

Mamoru Kakino  1 , Shigemi Tazawa, Hiroe Maruyama, Kazuhiro Tsuruma, Yoko Araki, Masamitsu Shimazawa, Hideaki Hara
Affiliations

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

Mamoru Kakino et al. BMC Complement Altern Med. .

Abstract

Background: Agarwood (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.

Methods: A 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.

Results: Pretreatment 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.

Conclusion: These 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.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The schedule of examination performed in this study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Laxative effects of single (A and C) and 14-day (B and D) administration of EEA on normal rats. Data are shown as the mean ± S.E.M., n = 12, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 vs. control (one-way ANOVA and Tukey's multiple comparison test).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effects of normal diet (white bars) and low-fiber diet (black bars) on frequency (A) weight (B) and water content (C) of stools over a 16 h period in rats. Data are shown as the mean ± S.E.M., n = 12, *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 vs. vehicle (one-way ANOVA and Tukey's multiple comparison test).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Effect of single (A, C and E) and 14-day (B, D and F) administrations of EEA and senna on stool frequency, weight and watercontent on rats with low fiber diet-induced constipation. Data are shown as the mean ± S.E.M., n = 12, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05 vs. vehicle (paired Tukey's multiple comparison test).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Mostafa SM, Bhandari S, Ritchie G, Gratton N, Wenstone R. Constipation and its implications in the critically ill patient. Br J Anaesth. 2003;91:815–819. doi: 10.1093/bja/aeg275. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cooke WT. Laxative abuse. Acta Gastroenterol Belg. 1981;44:448–458. - PubMed
    1. Siegers CP, von Hertzberg-Lottin E, Otte M, Schneider B. Anthranoid laxative abuse--a risk for colorectal cancer? Gut. 1993;34:1099–1101. doi: 10.1136/gut.34.8.1099. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kakino M, Izuta H, Ito T, Tsuruma K, Araki Y, Shimazawa M, Oyama M, Iinuma M, Hara H. Agarwood induces laxative effects via acetylcholine receptors on loperamide-induced constipation in mice. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. in press (accepted April 30, 2010) - PubMed
    1. Langmead L, Rampton DS. Herbal treatment in gastrointestinal and liver disease-benefits and dangers. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2001;15:1239–1252. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2036.2001.01053.x. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms