Trianthema portulacastrum affords antihepatotoxic activity against carbon tetrachloride-induced chronic liver damage in mice: reflection in subcellular levels

The efficacy of an ethanol extract of Trianthema portulacastrum as a hepatoprotective agent was investigated against carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)-induced chronic liver injury in mice. The CCl₄ was administered per os (p.o.) three times a week for 5 weeks. Daily administration (p.o.) of T. portulacastrum plant extract at 100 or 150 mg/kg was started 2 weeks before the commencement of CCl₄ treatment and it continued during the entire period of the treatment. The extract dose-dependently decreased the activities of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, glutamate pyruvate transaminase, lactate dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, glutamate dehydrogenase and sorbitol dehydrogenase as well as serum levels of bilirubin and urea which were otherwise significantly elevated with the chronic CCl₄ regimen alone. There was a substantial increase in the activities of plasma membrane enzymes γ-glutamyl transpeptidase and 5′-nucleotidase and lysosomal enzymes acid phosphatase and acid ribonuclease in hepatic tissue following CCl₄ treatment. These changes were reversed towards normalization with the extract in a dose-dependent manner. The extract also restored CCl₄-induced inhibition of hepatic microsomal enzyme glucose-6-phosphatase. The activities of mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase and adenosine 5′-triphosphatase which were significantly attenuated by CCl₄ administration remained unaltered following the extract therapy. Results of this study provide evidence that the extract possesses a marked liver protective action which is comparable to that of silymarin, a standard hepatoprotective drug. The probable mechanism by which this plant exerts cytoprotection has also been discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.