- Asian Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences (2014) Volume 4, Issue 34

Hepaptoprotective Activity of Aqueous Extract of Digitalis purpurea in Carbon Tetra Chloride Induced Hepatotoxicity in Albino Rats

Liver is a vital organ play a major role in metabolism and excretion of xenobiotics from the body. Liver injury or liver dysfunction is a major health problem that challenges not only health care professionals but also the pharmaceutical industry and drug regulatory agencies. Liver cell injury caused by various toxic chemicals (certain anti-biotic, chemotherapeutic agents, carbon tetrachloride (CCL4), thioacetamide (TAA) etc.), excessive alcohol consumption and microbes is well studied. Herbal medicines have been used in the treatment of liver diseases for a long time. A number of herbal preparations are available in the market. The present review is aimed at compiling data on promising phytochemicals from medicinal plants that have been tested in hepatotoxicity models using modern scientific system. A large number of populations suffer due to various reasons from hepatic diseases of unknown origin. The development of antihepatotoxic drugs being a major thrust area has drawn the attention of workers in the field of natural product research because synthetic drugs may cause serious side effects. The present research was aimed to study the in vivo hepatoprotective activity of methanolic extract of Digitali Purpurea L. in CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in albino rats. The level of serum aspartate aminotransferase (SGOT), alanine aminotransferase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin (T. BILI.) were determined to assay hepatotoxicity. CCl4 administration caused severe hepatic damage in rats as evidenced by elevated serum SGOT, SGPT, ALP and T. BILI. Levels. The extract of Digitalis Purpurea L. and silymarin administration prevented the toxic effect of CCl4 on the above serum parameters in both preventive and curative models. The present study concludes that, methanolic extract of Digitalis Purpurea L has significant hepatoprotective activity against CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity, which support folkloric utilization and further confirmed by the histological investigation. The observed activity may be associated with its high bioactive compounds including Purpurea glycoside –A, Digitoxin (a), Glucoodoroside–H, Gitoxin, Odoroside – H, Verodoxin, Digitalin, β-sitosterol, Cholesterol, Campesterol, Apigenin.

Author(s): Rabadia J, Hirani U, Kardani D, Kaneria A

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