Abstract
Background: Natural products with therapeutic properties such as plants, minerals and animal products, for many years, were the main sources of drugs for treatment of numerous diseases; hence selection of Lawsonia inermis L. (Henna) in order to study its hepatoprotective activity was considered. Objectives: This was an attempt to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of Lawsonia inermis leaves methanolic extract on CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Methods: The L. inermis leaves methanolic extract, which obtained by maceration, was orally administered in doses of 100mg/kg and 200mg/kg to the tested animals in order to assess its effects on serum levels of hepatotoxicity parameters, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin and total proteins along with histopathological liver sections examination, while silymarin (25mg/kg), a potent hepatoprotective drug, was used as standard control. Results: The two doses of the plant extract showed dose-dependent hepatoprotective effect, as evident by the significant reduction (P < 0.05) in serum levels of AST, ALT, ALP and bilirubin along with the improvement in histopathological liver sections compared to CCl4-only treated animals. Conclusion: As experimentally evident, it could be concluded that, this plant material could provide a hepatoprotective effect which could be attributed to its antioxidant properties.
Key words: Lawsonia inermis leaves; hepatoprotective; carbon tetrachloride hepatotoxicity; liver enzymes.
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