ASSESMENT OF HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF ROOTS AND BARKS OF ACHYRANTHES ASPERA IN CARBON TETRACHLORIDE-INDUCED HEPATOTOXICITY IN RATS

Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is a colorless liquid organic compound which is used for household work. Mainly liver and kidney of human are the major organs for CCl4 toxicity. Liver can damage after 24 hours of CCl4 ingestion and can cause severe fatal symptoms including painful swollen liver, hemorrhages, hepatic coma leading to death. We examined the effect of CCl4 on rat liver. Serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) and serum bilirubin levels are used as a biomarker for the hepatotoxicity. Our goal was to determine the effect of SGPT and bilirubin level by using methanolic extract of Achyranthes aspera (Amaranthaceae) roots and barks on CCl4 induced rats. After completing the fractionation process these extracts was induced in the rat’s body in a dose dependent manner. Our result demonstrated that carbon tetrachloride caused the hepatotoxicity in rats where 1 ml/kg body weight of carbon tetrachloride significantly increased the SGPT and bilirubin level in one day treatment, while 0.25 ml/kg and 0.50 ml/ kg body weight of CCl4 on one day treatment did not have significant effect on SGPT and bilirubin level. But the low dose of CCl4 such as 0.5 ml/kg of body weight for longer period treatment caused the hepatotoxicity. CCl4 induced controlled group was treated with dexamethasone 2.0 mg/kg, 4mg/kg, 6.0 mg/kg, 8 mg/kg body weight to compare with plant extract activity. A significant result was found that the methanolic extract of root is responsive against CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity where the doses were 10mg/kg, 20mg/kg and 30 mg/kg.