Abstract
Objectives:This study was conducted to determine the effect of ethanolic extract of the dried stems of Tinospora crispa in a male rat model of hepatic fibrosis caused by the hepatotoxin, thioacetamide.Materials and Methods:The extract was gavaged daily to the rats, at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg along with thioacetamide at a dose of 200 mg/kg twice weekly. To assess the effectivity of extract, against thioacetamide, the activity of aminotransferases (alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase), alkaline phosphatase (AP); and bilirubin were measured, together with morphological and histopathological indices in the liver of healthy and thioacetamide-treated rats.Results:A significant increase in the activity of liver enzymes, bilirubin and G-glutamyl transferase and gross and histopathological changes were determined. Although previous in vitro study established that this extract had strong antioxidant activity, this in vivo study establishes that this extract contains hepatotoxins whose identity may be quite different from those compounds with antioxidant properties.Conclusion:The study confirms that complete reliance on data obtained using in vitro methodologies may lead to erroneous conclusions pertaining to the safety of phytopharmaceuticals.
Highlights
Tinospora crispa; is known by various vernacular names such asakar seruntumorakar patawalito the Malays
The present study was undertaken to assess the effect of T. crispa in rat model of chronic liver disease in order to confirm that this plant does have a therapeutic benefit in liver disease
As we reported that this plant is an antioxidant, we anticipated that there was an interaction between the antioxidant and the mixed function oxidase system of the TAA, which slows down or inhibits the oxidase enzymes of the metabolic process of TAA, resulting in accumulative toxicity of thioacetamide S, S-dioxide in the body, in addition to the delay in the transformation of thioacetamide S, S-dioxide to the end product which might take more than 24 hr[8] in order
Summary
Tinospora crispa; is known by various vernacular names such asakar seruntumorakar patawalito the Malays. It is a climber plant belonging to the family of Menispermaceae. T. crispa is an indigenous plant and can be found distributed from the southwestern part of China to Southeast Asia, including Malaysia. Traditional folklore attributes various therapeutic uses to its stem for treatment of fever, jaundice, hyperglycemia,[1] hypertension, wounds, intestinal worms and skin infections. It is used to treat tooth and stomach aches, cough, asthma and pleurisy.[2]. The whole plant contains a bitter principle, columbine, (2.22%) traces of an alkaloid and a glucoside. Three compounds, identified as N-cis-feruloyityramine, N-trans-feruloyltyramine and secoisolariciresinol, exhibiting antioxidant and radical scavenging properties toward carotene and 2,2-diphenyl-1pierylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, were isolated from the ch2cl extract of stems of T. crispa.[3]
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