Bangladesh Journal of Pharmacology Volume: 10; Number 2; Year 2015 Cite this article as: Gupta RK, Mishra A. Diuretic activity of coccinia grandis in rats. Bangladesh J Pharmacol. 2015; 10: 294. Diuretic activity of coccinia grandis in rats Sir, Coccinia grandis Linn (Family: Cucurbitaceae) is a climbing herb, growing wild throughout India. The fruit is aphrodisiac, allays thirst, useful in biliousness, diseases of the blood and as diuretic purpose (Kirtikar and Basu, 2000; Chopra et al., 2006) . It is also used to cures bronchitis, leprosy, anemia, and inflammation. The juice of the thick tap-root is used to cure the diabetes. The bark of the root, dried to reduce to powder, is said to act as good cathartic. The leaves are applied externally in eruption of the skin, and externally in gonorrhea. Powder of stem and dried leaf decoction has significant hypoglycemic and hypolipi- demic effects in diabetic patients. The present study is focused to find out its diuretic activity in rats. Shade dried fruits of C. grandis were powdered to get a coarse powder. About 500 g of dry powder were extrac- ted with alcohol in soxhlet apparatus to get a brown color residue after removing alcohol. The aqueous extract was obtained by macerating 500 g of C. grandis with 10 litres of boiling water. The filtrate was reduced to 500 mL in vacuo at about 35°C and freeze dried after- wards. Male albino rats with body weights between 140 -160 g were taken for the study. The method was employed for the assessment of diuretic activity (Lipschitz et al, 1943). Groups of 6 male albino rats were fasted and deprived of water for 18 hours prior to the experiment. On the day of experiment, animals were given normal saline orally 25 mL/kg of body weight in which the alcoholic and aqueous extracts were dissolved. Control animals received saline only. Immediately after the dosing (100 mg/kg), the rats (three in each cage) were placed in metabolic cages specially designed to separate urine and feces and kept at room temperature of 25 ± 5°C. The urine was collected in measuring cylinders up to 5 hours after dosing. During this period no food or water was made available to animals. The total volume of urine collected was measured for both control and treated groups. The parameters taken for each individual rat were, body weight (before and after test period), urine concentra- tion of Na+, K+, and Cl– were applicable, measured before and after the actual experiment. Na+ and K+ concentrations were measured by flame photometry and Cl– concentration is estimated as sodium chloride by titration with silver nitrate solution. The values of urine volume were elevated (Table I). The cation excretion is increased. The significant alteration of cation excretion is observed in aqueous and alcoholic extracts treated animals, which is nearly equivalent to furosemide. The results clearly show that aqueous and alcoholic extracts of C. grandis enhance considerably the urine excretion equivalent to furosemide control values. These finding may provide a lead for further investiga- tion of overall pharmacological action of C. grandis in a more appropriate model. Randhir K. Gupta and Anurag Mishra Faculty of Pharmacy, Babu Banarasi Das National Institute of Technology and Management, Lucknow-227105, India. Corresponding author: randheer.gupta@rediffmail.com References Kirtikar KR, Basu BD. Indian medicinal plants. Published by Lalit Mohan Basu, 2nd ed. Vol 5. 2000 Chopra RN, Nayar SL, Chopra IC. Glossary of Indian medicinal plants, C.S.I.R., 1st ed. 2006. Lipschitz WL, Hadidianz, Kerpscas A. Bioassay of diuretics. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1943; 79: 97-110. A Journal of the Bangladesh Pharmacological Society (BDPS) Bangladesh J Pharmacol 2015; 10: 294 Journal homepage: www.banglajol.info Abstracted/indexed in Academic Search Complete, Agroforestry Abstracts, Asia Journals Online, Bangladesh Journals Online, Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, CAB Abstracts, Current Abstracts, Directory of Open Access Journals, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Google Scholar, HINARI (WHO), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, Open J-gate, Science Citation Index Expanded, SCOPUS and Social Sciences Citation Index ISSN: 1991-0088; DOI: 10.3329/bjp.v10i2.22598 Letter to the Editor Table I: Effect of coccinia grandis on excretory parameters Treatment Dose (mg/kg) Urine vol- ume (mL) Electrolyte excretion Total chloride (µmol/kg) Na+ (mmol/kg) K+ (mmol/kg) Na+/ K+ Control (n=6) Saline (25 mL/kg) 1.9 ± 0.2 2018 ± 40 834 ± 37 2.4 712 ± 27 Alcoholic extract (n=6) 100 mg/kg 4.1 ± 0.2 2987 ± 102 817 ± 28 1.6 2108 ± 102 Aqueous extract (n=6) 100 mg/kg 5.2 ± 0.9 3422 ± 73 1948 ± 606 1.8 1916 ± 106 Furosemide (n=6) 100 mg/kg 4.4 ± 0.2 3217 ± 60 2082 ± 402 1.5 2452 ± 108 Values are represented as mean ± SD. mailto:randheer.gupta@rediffmail.com