Hepatoprotective Studies of Methanolic Leaf Extract of Barringtonia acutangula (L) against Carbon Tetrachloride Induced Liver Injury in Wistar Rats

Abstract

Physiological activities of liver result in the generation of highly reactive free radicals and various biochemical reactions make liver cells prone to attack and necrosis also excessive release of reactive oxygen species results in the organ damage. Herbal drugs plays important role as antioxidant in the management of various liver disorders which can even speed up the natural healing processes of the liver. Barringtonia acutangula L. an evergreen tree of moderate size was used in various indigenous systems of medicine against several diseases and almost every part of the plant has diverse pharmacological properties. The hepatoprotective property of this plant extracts was analyzed in this study in which leaf extracts were obtained using methanol further phytochemical and antioxidant properties were analyzed. In vivo studies were carried out for hepatoprotective studies on CCl4 induced liver damage following histopathological studies of rat liver tissues to support the induction of hepatoprotective efficacy. The grouping of animals consists of 6 rats per group in which group I has CCl4 induced rats treated with Silymarin (100 mg/kg b.w) for 30 days, group II & III has CCl4 induced rats treated with methanolic extract of Barringtonia acutangula (250 mg/kg b.w) & (500 mg/kg b.w) for 30 days. Biochemical analysis reveals that the values of parameters of treated groups have become too normal compared to the control group. Histopathology results suggest that there is improvement in the cell counts and decrease in vacuoles. Therefore, results of in vivo and in vitro studies indicate that has more potential at 500 mg/kg b.w concentration.