Abstract

PROTECTIVE AND THERAPEUTIC EFFICACY OF DIFFERENT EXTRACTS OF PLUMBAGO ZEYLANICA LINN ROOT AGAINST CCl4 INDUCED CHRONIC LIVER INJURY BY ATTENUATING OXIDATIVE STRESS AND SUPPRESSING INFLAMMATION

Kalari Kandy Rakheerathnam, Natarajan Vidhya, Sivasithamparam Niranjali Devaraj∗

Abstract

The constituents in the Plumbago zeylanica (Pz) roots are credited with various therapeutic potentials in Indian traditional medicine. However, very little is known about the antioxidant effects of various extracts (hexane, dichloromethane and methanol) of Pz. This study was designed to investigate the antioxidant activities of these Pz extracts. The highest antioxidant effect was shown by the methanolic extract of Pz (MEPz), which was further tested for its anti-inflammatory effect against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced rat liver inflammation and its anti-proliferative effect on HepG2 cells was also determined. Chronic liver inflammation in male Wistar rats was induced with intraperitoneal injection of CCl4. Increased inflammatory markers, serum C-reactive protein, myeloperoxidase activities and liver marker enzymes in CCl4-induced group were significantly reverted to near normal levels upon 15 days oral treatment with MEPz. Reactive oxygen species generation was markedly attenuated and the antioxidant levels were restored upon MEPz treatment. Also, liver histology highly correlated with the biochemical observations. Overall, cotreatment with MEPz prevented CCl4 induced rat liver damage hence MEPz could be used as a potential anti-inflammatory agent in the early stages of liver diseases.

Keywords: Inflammation; Carbon tetrachloride; Oxidative stress; Antioxidant; Plumbago zeylanica.