Protective activities of the aqueous root extract of Harungana madagascariensis in acute and repeated acetaminophen hepatotoxic rats

Abstract

In this study, the protective effects of 100 – 500 mg/kg/day of the aqueous root extract of Harungana madagascariensis Lam. ex Poir were evaluated on the average body weight, relative liver-body weight, serum alanine (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferases (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total (TB) and conjugated bilirubin (CB), triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), cholesterol fractions (HDL-c, LDL-c, VLDL-c), fasting blood glucose (FBG), total protein (TP) and albumin (ALB) in the acute and repeated dose acetaminophen hepatotoxic rats. Results showed that acute intraperitoneal injection of 800 mg/kg of acetaminophen induced significant (p<0.001) elevations in the serum concentrations of ALT, AST, ALP and FBG but caused significant (p<0.001) decreases in the serum concentrations of TP and ALB, while inducing non-significant (p>0.05) alterations in the serum levels of lipids, TB and CB. However, pretreatments with 100 - 500 mg/kg of Harungana madagascariensis significantly (p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.001) attenuated elevations of ALT, AST, ALP and FBG. In addition, the extract significantly (p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.001) attenuated reduction in the serum levels of TP and ALB while inducing non-significant (p>0.05) alterations in the serum lipids. Repeated acetaminophen hepatotoxicity caused similar effects in the measured parameters except that it was associated with significant (p<0.001) reduction in the FBG while inducing significant (p<0.05, p<0.001) increases in the serum TB and CB. Oral pretreatments with the extract significantly (p<0.001) enhanced acetaminophen induced hypoglycemia while significantly (p<0.05, p<0.01) attenuating significant elevations in the serum levels of TB and CB, in dose related fashion. The associated histopathologic features of moderate-to-severe hepatic necrosis were also attenuated by the extract. Thus, the overall results of this study confirm the folkloric use of the extract in the treatment of drug-induced hepatotoxicity.