HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF WHOLE FLOWER OF HIBISCUS ROSA-SINENSIS LINN EXTRACTS IN WISTAR RATS

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Linn flowers..Carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatic injury in rats and pentobarbitone induced hypnosis methods were used to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity. Alteration in biochemical parameters of hepatic damage, such as alanine transminase (ALT), aspartate transminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), triglycerides (TG), cholesterol, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin and pentobarbitone induced sleeping time were tested in different groups of study. Carbon tetrachloride (1mL/kg i.p.) enhances the level of biochemical markers of hepatic damage and increases the sleeping time in mice. Treatment with ethanolic and aqueous extracts of H. rosa-sinensis flowers (200mg/kg and 400mg/kg) has significantly brought back the altered levels of biochemical markers to near normal levels in a dose dependent manner, as compared to silyamarin (100mg/kg) and control group (1% w/V CMC).The result indicaes that the hepatoprotective activity shown may be due to the presence of flavonoids, mucilage, tannins or alkaloids, which justify its folkloric use.