Effect of Angelica archangelica aqueous extract on gastro intestinal motility in mice

Abstract

Background : Angelica Arangelica are distributed in different parts of the world, in particlar prevalent in Europe and Asia and are used in traditional medicine for treating stomach and intestinal disorders and mitigating inflammation and protecting against gastric ulcers. And constipation .Thepresent study aimed to evaluate the effect of Angelica archangelica in gastric emptying and intestinal transit. Methods:Mice were fasted for 12 hours and divided into groups for studying gastric emptying and intestinal transit . Treatments were administered before phenol red ingestion, and mice were euthanized after 20 minutes. Additional experiments involved administering a fixed dose of AAq with pre-treatments of atropine, yohimbine, L-NNA, L-arginine, and indomethacin to assess their effects. Results: The administration of the Aaq extract at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg significantly reduced gastric emptying (GE) to 37.86% and 40.60%, respectively, compared to the CMC (77.14%). When The Atropine combined with the extract showed a non-significant increase in GE (16.80%) compared to Atropine alone, indicating involvement of muscarinic receptors. The treatment with Yohimbine and the extract significantly increased GE to 69.96%, more than Yohimbine alone (58.43%), suggesting adrenergic receptor involvement.Also , treatment with L-NNA and L-Arg decreased GE, while Indo showed a slight increase in GE.Regarding intestinal transit (IT), administration of the Aaq extract at doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg reduced IT to 53.37% to 61.05%, with no statistically significant differences compared to the control group (55.06%). The treatment of the extract with Atropine decreased intestinal transit (IT) to 31.42%, which was slightly less effective than Atropine alone (34.69%), suggesting the involvement of muscarinic receptors. Yohimbine alone reduced IT to 36.46%, and when administered with the extract, IT increased to 52.82%, indicating that adrenergic receptors were not involved. Also,Treatment with L-NNA alongside the extract decreased IT, while L-Arg and Indo showed slight increases in IT. Conclusion: The study illustrated that Angelica archangelica plants primarily impact gastric emptying and intestinal transit in mice through the inhibition of muscarinic receptors and partially α-adrenergic receptors, thereby influencing digestive functions.