www.ijbcp.com International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology | July-August 2016 | Vol 5 | Issue 4 Page 1516 IJBCP International Journal of Basic & Clinical Pharmacology Print ISSN: 2319-2003 | Online ISSN: 2279-0780 Research Article Evaluation of gastric motility of Phyllanthus emblica and Asparagus racemosus in cold stress induced gastric damage Shirish Joshi 1 , Snehalata Vijayanand Gajbhiye 1 *, Urmila Thatte 2 INTRODUCTION Phyllanthus emblica (syn. Emblica officinalis), commonly known as Indian gooseberry or amla, family euphorbiaceae, is an important herbal drug used in ayurvedic systems of medicine. The clinical uses of Phyllanthus emblica have been listed for various disorders in ayurvedic systems of medicine. Various plant parts show antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, antibacterial, antioxidant, antiulcerogenic, hepatoprotective, gastroprotective, and chemopreventive properties. 1 P. emblica has been shown to possess anti-inflammatory effects. 2,3 As the current anti-inflammatory agents are known to possess GI related adverse effects, agents which have gastro protective effects are required. In a study published by Bandyopadhyay SK and Shirish SS et al Phyllanthus emblica has shown to have protective effect on gastric ulcer. 4,5 Another such agent, Asparagus racemosus (A. racemosus) belongs to family liliaceae and commonly known as Shatawari. It has been used for a variety of disorders including nervous disorders, dyspepsia, diarrhoea, dysentry, tumors, inflammations, hyper dipsia, neuropathy, hepatopathy, cough, bronchitis, hyperacidity and certain infectious diseases. 6 Also Asparagus racemosus has been found to be an effective antiulcerogenic agent, whose activity can well be compared with that of ranitidine hydrochloride. 7 It heals duodenal ulcers and may have cytoprotective action similar action to that of prostaglandlin. 8 ABSTRACT Background: Gastric emptying is known to be delayed in gastritis and gastric ulcer. Phyllanthus emblica and Asparagus racemosus are known to be gastroporotective. The objective if the study is to evaluate the effects of Phyllanthus emblica and Asparagus racemosus on gastric motility per se and by using the cold stress model of gastric damage. Methods: 84 wistar rats were used and divided into 7 groups. Different extracts of Phyllanthus emblica was administered to rats. Other groups received distilled water (control), Asparagus racemosus and ranitidine. All rats were given a test meal of methyl cellulose (1.5%) mixed with phenol red (50 mg/100 ml) orally and gastric emptying was measured 20 minutes later. Results: Gastric emptying was found to be 58.00±8.36 in normal rats (group I). None of the study drugs had any per se effect on gastric motility. Cold stress significantly reduced the gastric emptying 35.33±5.46 (p<0.05). Phyllanthus emblica and Asparagus racemosus showed increase in gastric motility 82.66±6.43 (phyllanthus emblica hot water extract) and 68.50±4.54 respectively which was statistically significant (p<0.01). Ranitidine also showed statistically significant increase in gastric motility 70.00±5.40 (p<0.01). Conclusions: Phyllanthus emblica and Asparagus racemosa have gastric motility enhancing effect and this could be one of the mechanisms of decrease in gastric erosions. Keywords: Ayurveda, Gastric motility, Phenol red DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2319-2003.ijbcp20162463 1 Department of Pharmacology, and Therapeutics, 2 Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital, Mumbai, India Received: 25 May 2016 Accepted: 01 July 2016 *Correspondence to: Dr. Snehalata Vijayanand Gajbhiye, Email: dr.ssborkar@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open- access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non- Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non- commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.