HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF ENHYDRA FLUCTUANS LOUR. AERIAL PARTS AGAINST CCL4 INDUCED HEPATOTOXICITY IN RATS

Enhydra fluctuans Lour. an edible herbaceous vegetable plant and widely used in torpidity of liver and in nervous diseases. The different extracts (Pet-Ether extract, Chloroform extract and Ethanol extract) of Enhydra fluctuans aerial parts were studied for its hepatoprotective effect on CCl4-induced hepatotoxic rats. The extracts were referred as PEEF, CEF and EEF respectively. In the toxicity study, all the extracts did not produce any mortality even at the highest dose (2000mg/kg) so 200mg/kg dose was taken as the tested dose. The extracts were found to decrease significantly CCl4-induced elevation of SGOT, SGPT, bilirubin and total cholesterol at the dose of 200mg/kg body weight. But it increased HDL-cholesterol level and liver weight with respect to CCl4 toxic rats. Histopathological profiles of CCl4-induced hepatotoxic liver revealed extensive centrilobular necrosis extending to other necrotic areas, ballooning degeneration with steatosis. The protective effect of PEEF, CEF and EEF (200 mg/kg, p.o.) were confirmed by histopathological examination of liver section of control, CCl4-induced and extracts treated groups of rats. Though all the extracts showed remarkable effect. EEF (200mg/kg, p.o.) treated rats exhibited a significant improvement of hepatocellular architecture over CCl4-induced group as evident from considerable reduction in necrosis and steatosis which is comparable with the standard drug Silymarin (25mg/kg, p.o.).