Hepatoprotective effect of polyphenols rich methanolic extract of Amorphophallus commutatus var. wayanadensis against CCl4 induced hepatic injury in swiss albino mice.

The present study is to evaluate the hepatoprotective and antioxidant activity of methanolic extract of Amorphophallus commutatus var. wayanadensis against carbon tetrachloride induced hepatotoxicity in mice models. Hepatic injury was induced by injecting 0.2% CCl4 in olive oil intra peritoneally on 15th day of drug administration. Hepatoprotective activity was evaluated by estimating the levels of serum markers like alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin and histopathological studies. Antioxidant potential of the extract was estimated by measuring the levels of antioxidant enzymes, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione-s-transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and total reduced glutathione in the liver samples. Histopathological and biochemical results elicited the methanolic extract of A. commutatus has significant hepatoprotective activity comparable to the standard silymarin. The extract also showed dose dependent increase of antioxidant enzymes in CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity models. The methanolic extract of A. commutatus showed significant hepatoprotective and antioxidant activity which might be attributed due to the polyphenolic compounds present in the extract.