Abstract

Phytol (PITY), a chlorophyll-derived diterpenoid, exhibits numerous pharmacological properties, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anticancer activities. This study evaluates the anti-diarrheal effect of phytol (PHY) along with its possible mechanism of action through in-vivo and in-silico models. The effect of PHY was investigated on castor oil-induced diarrhea in Swiss mice by using prazosin, propranolol, loperamide, and nifedipine as standards with or without PITY PHY at 50 mg/kg (p.o.) and all other standards exhibit significant (p < 0.05) anti-diarrheal effect in mice. The effect was prominent in the loperamide and propranolol groups. PITY co-treated with prazosin and propranolol was found to increase in latent periods along with a significant reduction in diarrheal section during the observation period than other individual or combined groups. Furthertnore, molecular docking studies also suggested that PITY showed better interactions with the alpha- and beta-adrenergie receptors, especially with alpha-ADR1a and beta-ADR1. In the former case. PITY showed interaction with hydroxyl group of Ser192 at a distance of 2.91 angstrom, while in the latter it showed hydrogen bond interactions with Thr170 and Lys297 with a distance of 2.65 and 2.72 angstrom, respectively. PITY exerted significant anti-diarrheal effect in Swiss mice, possibly through blocking alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptors.