Abstract

Lagenaria breviflora roberty is used in West Africa as traditional remedy for treatment of gastrointestinal disorders, particularly diarrhoea. This study was aimed at assessing the effect of the pulp and seed extract of L. breviflora on the contractile activity of isolated rabbit ileum. Rabbits of both sexes were used for the study and a rabbit was sacrificed for each experiment. The ileum was located and taken out into a petri dish containing Tyrode solution constantly aerated by an air pump. The organ was cut into strips of about 2cm long and mounted in an organ bath. The contractile responses were recorded on a kymograph. The maximum response (Emax), concentration producing 50% of the response (EC50) and affinity (pA2) were determined from repeated experiments conducted. Values were expressed as mean±SEM and significant differences were determined using one way ANOVA (p

Key words: Lagenaria breviflora, contractility, adrenergic antagonists