Allied studies on the effect of Rosmarinus officinalis L. on experimental hepatotoxicity and mutagenesis.

The hepatoprotective and antimutagenic effects of the rosemary essential oil and the ethanolic extract were investigated using carbon tetrachloride and cyclophosphamide as hepatotoxic and mutagenic compounds, respectively. Our results revealed that i.g. administration of the rosemary ethanolic extract (0.15 g/100 g BW) to rats for 3 weeks produced the most pronounced hepatoprotective effect compared to silymarin (reference compound) due to the amelioration of most of the studied serum and liver parameters and confirmed by histopathological examination of the liver tissue. Pretreatment of mice for 7 days with the rosemary essential oil (1.1 mg/g BW) followed by i.p. injection with cyclophosphamide reduced significantly the induced mitodepression in the bone marrow cells of the animals. The potential hepatoprotective and antimutagenic activities of the rosemary ethanolic extract and essential oil, respectively, are attributed to the presence of a relatively high percentage of phenolic compounds with high antioxidant activity (according to our chemical studies).