Protective Activity in Paracetamol Induced Hepatotoxicity and Antioxidant Potential from Lippia nodiflora (Verbenaceae) in Rats

This study was designed to evaluate the hepatoprotective and antioxidant activity of methanol extract of Lippia nodiflora (MELN) in acute experimental liver injury induced by paracetamol (750mg/kg, b.w). MELN at the doses of 200 and 400mg/kg, p.o was administered for 7 days and biochemical parameters such as serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT), glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin and total proteins with enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant level were recorded. MELN at both doses prevented the increase in liver weight when compared to hepatotoxin treated control. The higher dose (400 mg/kg) of Lippia nodiflora extract was found to be more effective than the lower dose (200 mg/kg) in paracetamol induced liver damage. MELN produced significant ( p <0.001) hepatoprotective effect by decreasing the activity of serum enzymes such as SGOT, SGPT, ALP, bilirubin and lipid peroxidation while it significantly (p<0.001) increased the levels of total proteins, glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in a dose dependent manner. The activity of MELN was compared with standard drug silymarin (25mg/kg), which is a well-known natural anti-hepatotoxic drug and the potency of MELN is more or less the same at that of silymarin. &nbsp; It is concluded that the methanol extract of whole plant possesses good hepatoprotective activity probably by its antioxidative potential on hepatocytes.