DOI: 10.36347/sajp

Pages: 66-72

The Objective of the present study was to investigate the pharmacological effects and the possible mechanism (s) that mediated the effects of the organic fraction from n-butanol-water partiton (50:50 v/v) of the stem bark of Terminalia superba and to screen for the presence of phytochemical constituents which can be responsible for these observations. Organic n-butanol fraction (BuF) from the stem bark of Terminalia superba was evaluated for its capacity to induce spasmolytic effect on spontaneous contraction of isolated rabbit duodenum as well as for its possible calcium blocking actions. Pieces of rabbit duodenum (3cm) were mounted in an organ bath containing air bubbled Mac Ewen solution with 1g initial tension. The non cumulative concentrations of BuF exhibited a significant (p<0.05) relaxation on the spontaneous contraction of isolated rabbit duodenum for concentrations ranging from 0.02 to 0.08 mg/ml. The precontracted duodenum by ACh (2.20x10-6mg/ml), KCl (2.43 x10-6mg/ml) and BaCl2 (2.30 x10-6mg/ml) were relaxed by the non cumulative concentrations (0.02, 0.04 and 0.08 mg/ml) of BuF (p<0.05). In high potassium (2.43 x10-6mg/ml) Ca2+-free Mac Ewen solution, non cumulative concentration of CaCl2 (2.02 x10-3µg/ml) induced duodenum contractions. However, the non cumulative concentrations of BuF