Anti-hepatotoxic activities of Hibiscus sabdariffa L. in animal model of streptozotocin diabetes-induced liver damage
1 Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
2 Department of Anatomy, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria
3 Department of Biochemistry, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
2 Department of Anatomy, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria
3 Department of Biochemistry, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2014, 14:277
doi:10.1186/1472-6882-14-277
The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/14/277
The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/14/277
| Received: | 2 April 2014 |
| Accepted: | 21 July 2014 |
| Published: | 30 July 2014 |
© 2014 Adeyemi et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Abstract
Background
Flavonoid-rich aqueous fraction of methanolic extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa calyx was evaluated for its anti-hepatotoxic activities in streptozotocin-induced
diabetic Wistar rats.
Methods
Diabetes Mellitus was induced in Wistar rats by a single i.p injection of 80 mg/kg
b.w. streptozotocin (STZ) dissolved in 0.1 M citrate buffer (pH 6.3).
Results
The ameliorative effects of the extract on STZ-diabetes induced liver damage was evident
from the histopathological analysis and the biochemical parameters evaluated in the
serum and liver homogenates. Reduced levels of glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT),
superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) (3.76 ± 0.38 μM, 0.42 ± 0.04
U/L, 41.08 ± 3.04 U/ml, 0.82 ± 0.04 U/L respectively) in the liver of diabetic rats
were restored to a near normal level in the Hibiscus sabdariffa -treated rats (6.87 ± 0.51 μM, 0.72 ± 0.06 U/L, 87.92 ± 5.26 U/ml, 1.37 ± 0.06 U/L
respectively). Elevated levels of aspartate amino transferase (AST), alanine amino
transferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in the serum of diabetic rats were
also restored in Hibiscus sabdariffa -treated rats. Examination of stained liver sections revealed hepatic fibrosis and
excessive glycogen deposition in the diabetic rats. These pathological changes were
ameliorated in the extract-treated rats.
Conclusion
The anti-hepatotoxic activity of Hibiscus sabdariffa extract in STZ diabetic rats could be partly related to its antioxidant activity
and the presence of flavonnoids.
