Hepatoprotective effect of water soluble extract of Coleus barbatus on cholestasis on young rats

The Confrontation between Ethnopharmacology and Pharmacological Tests of Medicinal Plants Associated with Mental and Neurological Disorders

For neurological disorders, pharmacological tests have shown promising results in the reduction of side effects when using plants with known therapeutic effects in the treatment of some types of dementia. Therefore, the goals of this study are to gather data about the major medicinal plants used in the nervous system as described in ethnopharmacological surveys from South America and Brazil and to compare this data with the results from pharmacological tests on the active principles of those same plants found in the scientific literature. After collecting the data about each plant, their respective popular indication was compared with the results found through pharmacological tests. The discrepancy rate between the effects observed by ethnopharmacological and pharmacological methods in this study is greater than 50%. In conclusion, despite the importance of ethnopharmacological data, it is important to make comparisons with pharmacological tests for the same plants, since the pharmacological studies, although few, have shown a high rate of discrepancy in the results.

Hepatoprotective effect of hydromethanolic leaf extract of Musanga cecropioides (Urticaceae) on carbon tetrachloride-induced liver injury and oxidative stress

Objective

Natural antioxidant products are gaining popularity as treatments for various pathological liver injuries. Musanga cecropioides (Urticaceae) leaf extract is used in ethnomedicine for the management of jaundice and other hepatic ailments in Ibibio, Nigeria. This study evaluated the hepatoprotective and antioxidant effects of M. cecropioides hydromethanolic leaf (MCHL) extract against carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)-induced hepatotoxicity in rats.

Methods

Liver damage was induced by administering CCl₄ dissolved in liquid paraffin (2 mL/kg bw 1:1 intraperitoneally) after pretreatment with MCHL extract for 7 days. Thereafter, acute hepatotoxicity was evaluated in 36 Wistar rats divided into six groups (A–F) of six animals each. Group A served as the negative control; B received CCl₄ 1 mL/kg only; C–E received 70.7, 141.4, and 282.8 mg/kg MCHL extract, respectively; and F received silymarin 100 mg/kg daily for 7 days by oral gavage. After 48 h, the rats were sacrificed, and samples obtained from them were assayed for histological and biochemical biomarkers of hepatotoxicity.

Results

The MCHL extracts significantly (p < 0.001–0.05) reduced the increase in aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), conjugated bilirubin (CBIL), and total bilirubin (TBIL) levels induced by CCl₄ intoxication. There was no significant alteration in haematological indices or weight following administration of the MCHL extracts. Histopathological examinations revealed mitotic bodies in the 141.4 mg/kg MCHL extract-treated rats, an indication of tissue repair processes.

Conclusion

The MCHL extract has a dose-specific hepatoprotective effect; hence, the utilisation of this extract for the management of hepatitis requires caution.

An acqueous extract of Bidens pilosa L. protects liver from cholestatic disease: experimental study in young rats

PURPOSE: To test the hepatoprotective effect of water extract from Bidens Pilosa L. (BPE) in cholestatic liver disease induced by ligature and resection of the common bile ducts (LRBD) in young rats. METHODS: We studied four groups of ten 21 days old (P21) Wistar rats, Group SW: sham operation and water; Group SD: sham operation and BPE (160 mg of fresh leaves/100 g of body weight/day); Group LW: LRBD and water and Group LD: LRBD and BPE daily. Pentobarbital sleeping time (PST) and serum activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were determined after the sacrifice (P70). A Ruwart's score for hepatic fibrosis (RS) was given to each animal. Were employed two way ANOVA and the test of Tukey or a non-parametric test for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: There were statistically significant differences between LW and LD in the measurements of the PST ((means LW=390; LD=173), AST (means LW=8, LD=5), ALT (medians LW=2; LD=1) e RS (medians LW=2; LD=1). CONCLUSION: BPE could be used in the phytotherapy of the hepatic damage induced by chronic obstructive cholestasis, because protects liver function, decreases the rate of necrosis and liver fibrosis in cholestatic liver disease.