Evaluation of Hepatoprotective and in vivo Antioxidant Potentials of Methanol Extract of Tephrosia pumila against Thioacetamide Induced Liver Toxicity in Wistar Rats
The objective of the current investigation was performed to assess the hepatoprotective potentials and in vivo antioxidant properties of methanol extract of Tephrosia pumila against thioacetamide induced liver damage in rats. The acute oral toxicity study of methanol extract was determined as per OECD guidelines and the extract was proved to be safe up to the dose of 2000mg/kg. The total duration of the study was 21 days and animals were divided into six groups. Hepatotoxicity was induced in the animals of all groups except normal control by single dose administration of Thioacetamide(100mg/kg) at first day of the study followed by animals were treated daily with standard drug sylimarin and methanol extract of Tephrosia pumila (100mg/kg, 200mg/kg and 400mg/kg) to respective groups for 21 days. Variations in biochemical parameters like alanine transferase (ALT), aspartate transferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, albumin, total protein, ions and others parameters like clotting time and weight of the liver were considered to determine beneficial effect of the extract. At the end of the study liver samples were collected and subjected to histopathological evaluation. There were significant variations in the above mentioned biochemical parameters in toxic control animals treated with Thioacetamide alone while in the animals treated with methanol extract and standard drug silymarin, all the parameters were normal possibly due to their beneficial property in protecting the liver against thioacetamide induced hepatotoxicity. The results obtained in the above study suggesting that, the methanol extract of Tephrosia pumila possess significant hepatoprotective activity.