ABSTRACT
Significant recovery after treatment with the whole plant slurry of A.longifolia Nees. was observed in plasma AST, ALT and cholesterol levels in CCl4 induced hepatotoxic rats. This was amply supported by electron micrographs, which indicated normalization of cytoarchitecture of mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum. The results suggest that the slurry of the plant is useful as a liver tonic.
Subject(s)
Acanthaceae/chemistry , Animals , Carbon Tetrachloride/toxicity , Female , Liver/drug effects , Liver Diseases/chemically induced , Liver Function Tests , Male , Microscopy, Electron , Plant Extracts/therapeutic use , Plant Leaves/chemistry , Protective Agents/therapeutic use , Rats , Rats, Wistar , Seeds/chemistry , Silymarin/therapeutic useABSTRACT
Synthetic gugulsterones when administered to rats for a period of 3 weeks in dose of 5.0 mg/kg body weight/day caused a reduction in levels of total cholesterol by 30%, LDL-chol. by 40%, Tg by 40%. VLDL-chol. by 40% and HDL-chol. by 35%. The drug when administered to rats for a period of 16 weeks with increasing dose upto 1150 mg/kg body weight/day, reduced VLDL-chol. and Tg. by 55% and 50% respectively (P < 0.001) and LDL-chol by 33% (P < 0.05), whereas HDL-chol. was increased by 25% (P < 0.001). Histopathological studies on liver, spleen, intestine, lung, kidney, stomach and adrenal gland revealed drug related changes in a few animals upon exposure to high dose of the drug.