Treatment of Aspirin and CCl4-Induced Hepatic Damage in Rats by the Aqueous Extracts of some Local Plants Collected from Gombe State in Nigeria

摘要

In the present study, the capacity of the aqueous extracts of Senna singueana (SS), Nymphaea lotus (NL), Cochlospermum planchoni (CP) and Acacia nilotica (AN) as antitoxicants to protect against aspirin and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced hepatotoxicity in rats was investigated. Ten groups containing three replicates each were used. Biochemical parameters including aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), direct bilirubin (DB), total bilirubin (TB), total protein (TP) and albumin (ALB) were assayed. SS, NL, CP and AN extracts (250 mg/kg) were given daily by gavage to the animals in the groups V to X for fourteen consecutive days to explore the protective effects against aspirin and CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity. Animals of negative and standard controls (group I and II) respectively received vehicle and vehicle with 2 mL/kg olive oil by subcutaneous injections twice a week for a period of two weeks. Animals of the CCl4-treated group (group III) and the aspirin-treated group (group IV) respectively received vehicle with 2 mL/kg CCl4 in olive oil by subcutaneous injections and vehicle with 1 mL/kg aspirin orally twice a week for a period of two weeks. The results obtained were statistically evaluated using One-Way ANOVA followed by Least Significant Difference (LSD) for the parameters found to be statistically significant at α = 0.05. Mean serum AST, ALT and ALP, DB and TB levels/activities of the groups III and IV were statistically (p 0.05) higher when compared with the controls, in contrast with the mean serum TP and ALB levels of the groups III and IV that were found to differ statistically (p 0.05) when compared with the groups III and IV. Mean serum TP and ALB levels of the groups V to X and the controls were found to differ statistically (p 0.05) being higher than those of the groups III and IV. Taken together, the results of this study showed that the SS or NL extracts were found effective as hepatoprotective agents, and the mixture of SS and CP or the mixture of NL and AN extracts significantly antagonized aspirin and CCl4-induced liver damage in rats in comparison with control values, as evidenced by the biochemical parameters.