effects of jicama- (pachyehizus erous) based oral rehydration solution on intestinal alkaline phosphatase in diarrheagenic rats

Diarrhea results in the disruption of intestinal architecture and marked decrease in the activity of intestinal brush border enzymes, including alkaline phosphatase (alp). this study was done to determine how well jicama (pachyrhizus erosus) based oral rehydration solution (ors) can improve intestinal enzyme activity in diarrheagenic rats. animals were divided into 4 groups; the control group (animal received distilled water and rat chow), group a (animals were induced with diarrhea and left untreated), group b (animal were induced with diarrhea and treated with world health organization glucose electrolyte solution (who ges), while group c (animal were induced diarrhea with jicama-based ors (jb-ors). diarrhea was induced by feeding the animal with 5ml/100g body weight of 20% solution of d- mannitol daily. after treatment, the rats were sacrificed under ketamine anesthesia, dissected and their small intestines were removed, homogenized, and assayed for alkaline phosphatase enzyme. jicama ors increased alkaline phosphatase (alp) levels (higher than who-ors) and resulted in the normalization of body weights in rats following diarrhea induction. the results suggest that jicama could be used as food-based ors to restore to normal metabolic activities in diarrheic condition.