Viola canescens Wall. is an important medicinal plant with reported therapeutic benefits. The current work sought to investigate the antidiarrheal properties of V. canescens extracts both in vivo and in silico. This study applied molecular docking to unravel the molecular mechanism of V. canescens and to find the most effective phytocompounds with antidiarrheal effects. The antidiarrheal activity of V. canescens was assessed utilizing the castor oil-induced diarrhea assay and the charcoal meal assay. Antidiarrheal characteristics were evaluated by measuring parameters such as intestinal motility, fecal score, and hypersecretion. The V. canescens extract had a dose-dependent and statistically significant impact in the charcoal meal assay and castor oil-induced diarrhea assay. In the castor oil-induced diarrhea assay, the ethyl acetate fraction (65.96%) showed the highest percentage of defecation inhibition at the highest dose (300 mg/kg (bw)), followed by the uncorrected crystalline compound (63.83%), crude alkaloids (63.83%), chloroform fraction (63.83%), and crude flavonoids (55.32%), while the aqueous fraction (40.43%) and n-Hexane fraction (42.55%) revealed the lowest antidiarrheal potential. In addition, the molecular docking investigation showed emetine, quercetin, and violanthin, isolated chemicals of V. canescens, to have the highest binding affinity to the target μ and δ opioid receptors with significant inhibitory capacity. These pharmacologically active metabolites in V. canescens were effective in treating diarrhea. This study lends credence to the traditional usage of V. canescens in treating gastrointestinal disorders.
Keywords: antidiarrheal, Viola canescens, quercetin, violanthin, charcoal assay, molecular docking, phytocompounds
Author Biographies
Imtiaz Ahmad, Department of Botany and Zoology, Bacha Khan University Charsadda, Charsadda 24420, Pakistan
Conceptualization, Writing – original draft
Bader Alotaibi, Departmet of Laboratories Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Al Quwayiyah, Shaqra University, Shaqra 13253, Saudi Arabia
Validation, Investigation
Nosheen Malak, Department of Zoology, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mardan 23200, Pakistan
Software, Investigation
Fayaz Asad, Department of Botany and Zoology, Bacha Khan University Charsadda, Charsadda 24420, Pakistan
Validation, Data curation
Barkat Ullah, Department of Botany, Islamia College University Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan
Resources, Writing – review & editing
Nasreen Nasreen, Department of Zoology, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mardan 23200, Pakistan
Formal analysis, Writing – original draft
Adil Khan, Department of Botany and Zoology, Bacha Khan University Charsadda, Charsadda 24420, Pakistan
Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing – review & editing
Chien-Chin Chen, Department of Pathology, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi 600566, Taiwan
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