Anti-hepatotoxic potential of Hedyotis corymbosa against D-galactosamine-induced hepatopathy in experimental rodents

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate hepatoprotective potential of the methanolic extract of Hedyotis corymbosa against D-galactosamine-induced hepatopathy in experimental animals. Methods: In the present study, in- vivo hepatoprotective effect of 50% methanolic extract of Hedyotis corymbosa (HCE, 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight) was evaluated using experimental models D-Galactosamine (D-GalN) (200 mg/kg, body weight i.p.) induced hepatotoxicity in experimental animals. The hepatoprotective activity was assessed using various biochemical parameters like aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatise (ALP), γ-glutamyl transferase (γ-GT) and total bilirubin. Meanwhile, in vivo antioxidant activities as lipid peroxidation (LPO), reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were screened along with histopathological studies. Results: Obtained results demonstrated that the treatment with HCE signi-cantly (P<0.05-P<0.001) and dose-dependently prevented chemically induced increase in serum levels of hepatic enzymes. Furthermore, HCE signi-cantly (up to P<0.001) reduced the lipid peroxidation in the liver tissue and restored activities of defence antioxidant enzymes GSH, SOD and catalase towards normal levels. Histopathology of the liver tissue showed that HCE attenuated the hepatocellular necrosis and led to reduction of in ammatory cells in-ltration. Conclusions: The results of this study strongly indicate the protective effect of HCE against acute liver injury which may be attributed to its hepatoprotective activity, and there by scienti-cally support its traditional use.