ISSN 2169-303X
International Journal of Medicinal Plants Research ISSN 2169-303X Vol. 9 (3), pp. 001-006, March, 2020. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Hepatoprotective activity of leaves of Rhododendron arboreum in CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in rats
T. Prakash1*, Snehal Dayalal Fadadu1, Uday Raj Sharma1, V. Surendra1, Divakar Goli1, Perfect Stamina1 and D. Kotresha2
1Department of Pharmacology, Acharya and BM. Reddy College of Pharmacy, Bangalore-560 090, Karnataka, India.
2Department of Biochemistry, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-560 012, Karnataka, India.
Accepted 17 October, 2019
Abstract
The study was designed to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of pre-treatment with ethanolic extract of leaves of Rhododendron arboreum against carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in Wistar rat model. Liver damage was induced in experimental animals by administering CCl4. The ethanolic extract of R. arboreum (40, 60 and 100 mg/kg, po) was given for five days. Silymarin (100 mg/kg, po) was given as the reference drug. Hepatoprotective effect was studied by assaying the activities of serum marker enzymes like SGPT, SGOT, ALP, direct and total bilirubin, triglycerides, cholesterol and estimation of ascorbic acid in urine. The activities of all the marker enzymes registered a significant elevation in CCl4 treated rats, which were significantly recovered towards an almost normal level in animals co-administered with ethanolic extract of leaves of R. arboreum at a dose of 60 and 100 mg/kg. Ethanolic extract of leaves of R. arboreum prevented decrease in the excretion of ascorbic acid in CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Histopathological analysis confirmed the biochemical investigations. The results indicate that leaves of R. arboreum possess hepatoprotective property possibly because of its reported anti-oxidant activity. This property may be attributed to the quercetin related flavonoids, saponins and phenolic compounds present in the leaves of R. arboreum.
Key words: Hepatoprotective, Rhododendron arboreum, ascorbic acid, carbon tetrachloride, flavanoids