The present study was carried out to evaluate the acute toxicity, hepatoprotective
and in-vivo antioxidant activities of ethanolic extract of
Caesalpinia bonduc
leaf on carbon
tetrachloride (CCl
4) induced liver damage using Swiss albino rats. The ethanolic extract of the
plant of
C. bonduc were suspended in 5 % tragacanth and then administered orally at doses of 250 and
500 mg/kg body weight for fourteen days before intraperitoneally injection of Carbon tetrachloride
(CCl
4) at dose of 2 mL/kg body weight. The plant extracts at 250 and 500mg/kg b.wt showed a
remarkable hepatoprotective and
invivo antioxidant activities against carbon tetrachloride CCl
4
– induced hepatotoxity judged from the serum marker enzymes .The CCl
4 induced significant
increase in aspartate amino transferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT), alkaline
phophatase (ALP), total bilirubin, and malondyaldehyde (MDA) with a reduction of total
protein, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase. Treatment of rats with different doses of plant
extract (250 and 500 mg/kg b.wt.) significantly (P< 0.001) altered serum maker enzymes and
antioxidant levels to near normal levels. The study suggests that
C. Bonduc specifically
chloroform and ethyl acetate fraction may be good sources of natural antioxidant and
hepatoprotective substance.
