Hepatoprotective activity of moralbosteroid, a steroidal glycoside isolated from Morus alba

Abstract

This study evaluates the hepatoprotective activity of moralbosteroid, isolated from Morus alba, against the hepatotoxicity induced by CCl4 in wistar albino rats. The level of hepatoprotection was estimated by measuring the following biochemical markers: aspartate amino-transferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), serum alanine amino-transferase (ALT), total bilirubin (TB), and total protein (TP), including the enzymes involved in antioxidant activities like glutathione transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT), lipid peroxidation (LPO) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). The oral administration of CCl4 significantly caused elevation in LPO level (13.22 ± 1.59 μM/mg protein) as compared to control. The activities of antioxidant enzymes including CAT, SOD, GPx and GST were decreased significantly (0.38 ± 0.6 nmol/min/ml, 0.89 ± 0.83 U/ml, 3.90 ± 0.91 μmol and 0.05 ± 0.16 U/min/mg protein) in testicular tissue as compared to control animals. Moralbosteroid significantly prevents the marked escalation of serum markers and inhibited the free radical processes by the scavenging of hydroxyl radicals. It also modulates the levels of LPO and prominently increases the endogenous antioxidant enzyme levels in hepatocellular toxicity induced by CCl4. The results obtained in the present study suggest the preventive influence of moralbosteroid on liver toxicity in rats induced by CCl4 comparable with those of Silymarin.