Protective effect of Euphorbia thymifolia and Euphorbia hirta against carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in Wistar rats

Abstract

Objectives

The present study aims to investigate the protective effect of Euphorbia thymifolia and Euphorbia hirta extracts on in vitro antioxidant activity and in vivo analysis on hepatic marker enzyme levels and histopathological changes in the liver of carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) induced hepatotoxicity rats.

Materials and methods

This study includes 42 adult male Albino Wistar rats randomly divided into seven treatment groups, including control (basal diet, G1), CCl₄-induced single dose (1.5 ml/kg, i.p.) as the negative control (G2), G1 supplemented with 300 mg/kg of ethanol extract of E. thymifolia (G3) and E. hirta (G4), G2 supplemented with 300 mg/kg of ethanol extract of E. thymifolia (G5), E. hirta (G6), and silymarin (25 mg/kg b.w.) used as a standard drug (G7) for 21-days experimental period.

Results

The ethanolic extracts of E. thymifolia and E. hirta exhibited potential in vitro antioxidant activity in a dose-dependent manner (25 μg/ml, 50 μg/ml, 100 μg/ml, 200 μg/ml and 250 μg/ml). Oxidative stress caused by CCl₄-induced the liver damage, including changes in liver marker enzymes (aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, and alkaline phosphatase), enzymatic (superoxide dismutase and catalase), non-enzymatic antioxidants (lipid peroxides and glutathione) and hepatocellular alterations such as hydropic degeneration, irregular hepatocytes, and distention of the vein. Administration of E. thymifolia and E. hirta significantly (p < 0.05) restored the enzyme activity along with the histology of the liver.

Conclusion

The results from the current study demonstrate that E. thymifolia and E. hirta have the property of restoring hepatic redox capacity and antioxidant activities against CCl₄-induced acute liver damage.

Keywords:

• Superoxide dismutase
• catalase
• lipid peroxides
• aspartate aminotransferase
• alanine aminotransferase
• alkaline phosphatase

Author contributions

Conceptualization, B.B., V.A., and S.P.; data curation, B.B. and S.V.; formal analysis and methodology, G.M.M., R.M., and M.S.; writing-original draft preparation, B.B. and W.L.; writing-review and editing, B.B., W.L., V.A., and S.P.; project administration and funding acquisition, S.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2019R1F1A1059043).