IN VIVO PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF NELSONIA CANESCENS (LAM.) SPRENG EXTRACTS AGAINST CARBON TETRACHLORIDE-INDUCED HEPATOTOXICITY IN RATS

Objective: To investigate the in vivo protective effect of Nelsoniacanescens extracts against carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Methods: The anti-hepatotoxicity activity was assessed through toxicity studies, measurement of serum Alanine aminotransferase,Aspartate Aminotransferase levels, evaluation of lipid peroxidation and histological examination. Results: The findings were that methanolic extract of N. canescens exhibited a good anti-hepatoprotoxicity. For the serum Alanine aminotransferase content, the treated batch with the N. canescens extract had content (20.93 ? 5.90 IU/L) close to silymarin control batch (17.77 ? 0.90 IU/L). As regards the Aspartate Aminotransferase content, an interesting result was found with the batch of rats still treated with N. canescens extract showed an interesting result (25.11 ? 4.07 IU/L) quite close to the batch of non-intoxicated rats (20 ? 1.51 IU/L). In addition, pretreatment with N. canescensmethanolic extract and sylimarin decreased the level of lipid peroxidation which resulted in the decrease of Malondialdehydelevel compared to the group without treatment. Regarding the morphological examination of rat liver tissue after treatment with Carbon tetrachloride, a similar tissue healing effectiveness was found with N. canescens extract and silymarin, a standard drug used. Conclusion: The Nelsoniacanescensmethanolic extract exhibited a good anti-hepatotoxicity capacity. The presence of phenolic compounds identified in this species could mainly responsible for these in vivo biological activities. These results could justify the widely use of this plant species in Burkina Faso traditional medicine for liver disorders.