You have no items in your shopping cart.
ABSTRACT
Geophila obvallata leaves, stems and roots are used medicinally to treat various kinds of diseases such as abdominal troubles, hypertension, tooth ache, jaundice, diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular diseases in Nigeria. Liver diseases are worldwide problem. Medicinal plants are increasingly utilized to treat a wide variety of diseases; liver disorder inclusive. This study investigated the hepatoprotective activity of pre-treatment with the methanolic leaf extract of Geophilia obvallata (GOE) against CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in Wistar rats. A total of 30 Wistar rats were divided into six groups I – VI of five rats each. Group I were the control, while groups II-VI were treated groups. Groups III, IV and V were orally administered GOE at doses of 50mg/kg, 100mg/kg and 150mg/kg respectively, group VI were administered GOE only at dose of 100mg/kg and group II were administered CCl4 only. Treatment lasted for two weeks. Hepatotoxicity was induced in the treatment group animals by administering a single dose of CCl4 (1ml solution: oil, ingestion). Hepatotoxicity was studied using the serum marker enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). GOE showed significant (p<0.05) hepatoprotective effect by lowering serum LDH activity. The results showed that changes in body weight of 50mg/kg b.wt, 100kg/kg b.wt and CCl4 only were significantly decreased (p<0.05) when compared to normal control; and there was insignificant decrease (p>0.05) in body weight of 150mg/kg b.wt and 100mg/kg b.wt GOE when compared to control group. Pre-treatment with Geophila obvallata extract especially at dose 100mg/kg b.wt revealed hepatoprotective effect against CCl4-induced liver toxicity and significant (p<0.05) reduction of serum LDH activity. These results indicate that methanolic leaf extract of Geophila obvallata possesses significant hepatoprotective activity.
