Background: Medicinal plants are by far the crucial source of drugs to protect the body against an insult by toxic compounds. The present study is aimed at assessing the hepatoprotective effects of aqueous extract of Pterocarpus erinaceus (PE) and Bauhinia rufescens (BR) on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced liver damage in albino rats for a period of two weeks.
Materials and Methods: The study was carried out on a total of thirty (30) albino rats which were divided into six (6) groups of five (5) replicates. Group I was used as controls, group II received CCl4 in groundnut oil (1 ml/kg) by subcutaneous injection;group III and IV received CCl4 in groundnut oil (1 ml/kg) by subcutaneous injection followed by 250mg/kg of PE and BR on day 12, 13 and 14 for group III and IV respectively. Group V and VI received 250mg/kg of PE and BR daily for 12 days followed by CCl4 (1ml/kg) on day 12 respectively. The rats were sacrificed twenty-four (24) hours after the last administration and blood samples were collected and the sera obtained were tested for alanine aminotransferase (ALT),aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities/levels. Results obtained were statistically analyzed using One-Way ANOVA followed by LSD for parameters found to be statistically significant at ÃÃ?â??Ã?Ž±=0.05.
Results: Mean serum activities of AST, ALT and ALP of group II, III, IV, V and VI were found to differ significantly (p<0.05) higher when compared with control except AST level of group V and VI that was resulted to differ slightly (P>0.05) higher than that of control. In the same vein, mean serum levels of AST, ALT and ALP of group III, IV, V and VI were found to differ significantly (p<0.05) lower when compared with Group II.
Conclusion: Taken together, the results of this study showed that 250mg/Kg of PE or BR extract was found effective as hepatoprotective agents, as evidenced by the abovementioned biochemical parameters against CCl4-induced liver damage in rats.
