Evaluation of Diuretic activity of Fractional Extracts of Ajuga remota Benth (Lamiaceae) in Albino mice

The present study was evaluated the in vivo diuretic activity of fractional extracts of A. remota in albino mice. The dried aqueous crude extracts were subjected to soxhlet extraction by n-butanol, methanol and water solvents. The mice were randomly divided into eleven groups with 8 mice in each. All fractions were administered orally at doses of 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg to adult male mice, and the positive and negative controls were treated with furosemide (10 mg/kg, p.o) and the vehicle distilled water (2 ml/100 gm of body weight) respectively. The diuretic effect of the extracts was evaluated by measuring urine volume, urinary electrolytes and urinary pH. The result indicates that aqueous and methanolic fractions at 1000 mg/kg dose produced significant (p<0.001) increase in urine output and electrolyte excretion (p<0.001) when compared to control. Additionally, potassium sparing activity (27%, p<0.05) and high natriuretic index (2.7-3.03) were produced by the n-butanol fraction relatively even if it showed minimal effect on urine output. Therefore, from the present study it may be concluded that the compounds present in methanolic and aqueous fraction are responsible for diuretic activity. This finding together with previous results on the aqueous crude extracts provides a quantitative basis for developing a new diuretic medicine from A. remota plant.