Abstract

Diarrhea is a global epidemic mostly common in developing countries, especially among children below five years. The side effects posed by conventional antidiarrheal agents necessitate the screening and development of alternative agents. This review assessed the current experimental techniques involved in screening agents with promising anti-diarrheal properties. The various models described include; in-vivo model (gastrointestinal transit time using charcoal meal, Castor oil-induced diarrhea, Castor oil-induced enteropooling, Magnesium sulfate induced diarrhea, Prostaglandin (PGE2) induced enteropooling and Serotonin induced diarrhea), intestinal enteroids model (enterotoxigenic escherichia coli -induced diarrhea, enteropathogenic escherichia coli induced diarrhea and cholera toxin-induced diarrhea) as well as ex - vivo model (involving the use of isolated jejunum or ileum from guinea pigs, rabbits and rats). Innovative screening areas covered include; enkephalinase, intestinal ion channels and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) associated diarrhea and Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR) target. Advantages and disadvantages of these techniques were also highlighted. Application of these models would aid in the discovery of alternative antidiarrheal agents.

Key words: Experimental screening models, in-vivo diarrhea models, ex-vivo diarrhea model, in-vitro diarrhea model, enteroids diarrhea model.