Thioacetamide-induced acute liver toxicity in rats treated with Balanites roxburghii extracts

Objective: To evaluate the antioxidant and thioacetamide induced liver toxicity using extracts of aerial parts of Balanites roxburghii (B. roxburghii). Methods: The in-vitro antioxidant activity was estimated for different extracts on superoxide, hydroxyl and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radicals and the hepatoprotective activity of the selected plant extracts was evaluated by using thioacetamide-induced liver intoxication in rats model. Results: There were no visible signs of toxicity, mortality and no behavioral changes were observed for the selected plant extracts (hydroalcoholic, ethyl acetate and hexane) at 2000 mg/kg body weight. The plant extracts showed dose-dependent effectiveness in the inhibition of free radicals generation and hepatoprotective nature. The hydroalcoholic extract showed more scavenging activity as compared to other extracts with IC50 values of (332.50 +/- 1.30) mg, (302.00 +/- 1.50) mg and (230.40 +/- 1.10) mg on superoxide, hydroxyl and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radicals. Aerial parts of B. roxburghii at three dose levels such as 125 mg/kg, 250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg showed dose dependent percentage protection as standard drugs and on enhancement activities of serum biomarker enzymes (aspartate aminotransferase, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin and total protein) observed in thioacetamide-induced hepatotoxicity. The hydroalcoholic extract showed significant results at 500 mg/kg body weight as compared to other extracts (P < 0.05) with 65.65%, 62.39%, 59.89%, 55.90% and 54.61% on aspartate aminotransferase, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin and total protein levels. Conclusions: It was observed that the B. roxburghii plant extracts are non-toxic and have capacity to restore the physiological changes caused by the hepatotoxic compounds.