Protective effect of HD-03, a herbal formulation, against various hepatotoxic agents in rats
Introduction
Liver, the key organ of metabolism and excretion, is constantly endowed with the task of detoxification of xenobiotics, environmental pollutants and chemotherapeutic agents. Thus, disorders associated with this organ are numerous and varied. While a curative agent has not yet been found in modern medicine, the current usage of corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents only brought about symptomatic relief (Handa et al., 1986). Furthermore, their usage is associated with risk of relapses and danger of side effects. On the other hand, Ayurveda, an indigenous system of medicine in India, has a long tradition of treating liver disorders with plant drugs (De et al., 1993). On the basis of leads available from folklore usage and recent experimental and clinical studies conducted at various research institutions throughout the country, a formulation (HD-03), was evolved by experiments conducted at the R&D Centre, The Himalaya Drug Company, incorporating promising herbs to elicit an optimal hepatoprotective activity. It is a polyherbal formulation consisting of Solanum nigrum L. (Solanaceae; whole plant, 30%), Cichorium intybus L. (Compositae; seeds, 20%), Picrorrhiza kurroa Benth. (Scrophulariaceae; roots, 20%), Tephrosia purpurea L. (Papilionaceae; whole plant, 20%) and Andrographis paniculata Nees. (Acanthaceae; Leaves, 10%). Many of the individual ingredients of the formulation were earlier investigated for their protective activity against different models of experimental hepatotoxicity (Jindal et al., 1975, Handa et al., 1990, Ansari et al., 1991, Dwivedi et al., 1991, Murthi and Srinivasan, 1993, Gilani et al., 1993, Gilani et al., 1994, Sultana et al., 1995). In the present experimental study on rats, a systematic research was undertaken to evaluate the possible effect of the formulation on the hepatotoxicity induced by diverse agents. The present communication substantiates the therapeutic utility of the formulation as a hepatoprotective agent.
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Materials and methods
A total of 82 adult rats of either sex (body weight 200±20 g, Wistar strain) inbred at our animal house, were used. The animals were maintained on 12 h light and dark cycle and fed ad libitum standard pellet diet (Lipton India Ltd. Bombay) and had free access to water.
The constituting plants of the formulation were procured from authentic sources and were identified by Dr. S. Farooq, botanist of The Himalaya Drug Co. A voucher specimen of each constituent plant has been deposited in the
Results
The protective actions of HD-03 pre-treatment on hepatotoxicity induced by different toxins are summarised in Table 1Table 2Table 3. HD-03 demonstrated protective effect in rats against paracetamol (PCM)-induced hepatotoxocity in doses ranging from 250–750 mg/kg (Table 1). A dose lower than 250 mg/kg did not produce any change in the parameters studied. A significant (P<0.01) decrease was observed in the serum ALT and AST and liver lipid peroxidation levels in the treated animals. PCM-induced
Discussion
The present study brings about the potential hepatoprotective activity of HD-03 and gives insight into its mechanism of action. PCM, TAA and INH are known to cause hepatocellular damage and are commonly employed as experimental hepatotoxic agents (Torrielli, 1978). An obvious sign of hepatic injury is leakage of cellular enzymes into the plasma (Schmidt et al., 1975). When liver cell plasma membrane is damaged, a variety of enzymes normally located in the cytosol are released into the blood
Acknowledgements
The authors express their thanks to Dr. S. Farooq, botanist, The Himalaya Drug Co., for identification of the different plant species.
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