Prophylactic activities of Olax viridis in the liver of rats challenged with carbon tetrachloride

Abstract

Olax viridis is a plant used for its ethnomedical properties. This experiment was focused at assessing the ^{prophylactic activities of O. viridis against carbon tetrachloride (CCl}4^{) - induced hepatotoxicity. Twenty-five} male albino rats were randomly divided into five categories. Categories 1 and 2 received distilled water, category 3 received the extract at 100 mg/kg body weight (bw), 4 received the extract at 200 mg/kg while 5 received Silymarin at 100 mg/kg. The route of administration was per os, 12 hourly for five days. One hour ^{after the last treatment, groups 2-5 were challenged orally with 0.15 ml/kg of CCl}4 ^{in olive oil. Eighteen hours} later, blood samples were collected for serum assay of aspartate amino-transferase, alanine amino- ^{transferase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin and total protein. The effect of the extract on CCl}4 ^alteration of pentobarbitone sleeping time was assessed using another 5 groups of five rats each. The animals were treated as described for the first experiment. There was no significant difference (P < 0.05) between the serum biochemical markers of the animals given 100mg/kg bw of the extract, those given 100mg/kg bw of silymarin and those of the control group but they were significantly different (P > 0.05) from those of the category treated ^{with 200mg/kg of the extract and the category given only CCl}4^{. Similar trend was observed in the} pentobarbitone-induced sleeping time experiment. This study reveals that the methanolic root extract of O. ^{viridis can protect the liver against CCl}4 ^{induced hepatotoxicity.}