The use of Euphorbia hirta L. (Euphorbiaceae) in diarrhea and constipation involves calcium antagonism and cholinergic mechanisms

Table 2 Laxative effect of E. hirta extract in the absence and presence of atropine in mice

Group no.	Treatment	Dose (mg/Kg)	Mean pellets/group (numbers)	Mean wet pellets/group (numbers)	% Laxation
1	Saline (10 mL/kg)	–	4.5 ± 0.42	0.333 ± 0.21	7.40
2	Carbachol	1	11.6 ± 0.67 **	6.33 ± 1.22 **	54.3
3	EH.Cr (p.o)	50	7.33 ± 0.49 *	3 ± 0.36 **	40.9
4	EH.Cr (p.o)	100	8.5 ± 0.42 **	5.10 ± 0.57 **	58.8
5	EH.Cr (p.o)	300	3.53 ± 0.42	1.66 ± 0.30	28.5
6	Saline (10 mL/kg) + atropine	10	3.11 ± 0.36	0.00 ± 0.00	0
7	Carbachol + atropine (i.p)	1 + 10	6 ± 1.30 ^@@	1.66 ± 0.33 ^@@	27.7
8	EH.Cr (p.o) + atropine (i.p)	50 + 10	3.5 ± 0.56 ^@@	0.83 ± 0.30 ^@	23.8
9	EH.Cr (p.o) + atropine (i.p)	100 + 10	4.83 ± 1.07^@@	1.33 ± 0.49 ^@@	27.5
10	EH.Cr (p.o) + atropine (i.p)	300 + 10	1.33 ± 0.21^ns	0.33 ± 0.22 ^ns	25

Abbreviations: EH.Cr the crude extract of E. hirta, p.o. per oral, i.p intraperitoneal
Values are presented as mean ± SEM, n = 6 animals/group. */^@ p < 0.05, **/^@@ p < 0.01 and ns indicates non-significant, * shows comparison of group 2–5 vs group 1, (One-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s test), ^@ shows a comparison of group 7 vs group 2, group 8 vs 3, group 9 vs 4 and group 10 vs 5 (One-way ANOVA followed by Bonferroni test)

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