ABSTRACT
This review deals mainly with enlightening physicians, pharmacists and all those who are involved in the medical field with the abilities of various synthetic drugs and medicinal plants-that are formulated in various elegant pharmaceutical forms-that are circulating in both our own countries and abroad. It initially gives an idea about the prevalence of drugs-induced hepatotoxicity in some countries and then it describes the various physiological functions of the liver. It also discusses the various mechanisms through which chemicals induce toxic and allergic hepatotoxicity and other disturbances such as cholestasis, granulomatous hepatitis, phospholipidosis, steatohepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis and tumors. For each of these diseases numerous examples of synthetic drugs and medicinal plants arc given. With regard to medicinal plants. the Latin and Trade names, botanical families, uses and active constituents responsible for the induction of the hepatotoxicity are also given. The possible methods available for diagnosis and treatment of such diseases are given. The review then draws the attention to the fact that withdrawal of these drugs and medicinal plants from the pharmaceutical register does not limit the effective treatments of the various diseases for which these chemicals arc indicated