Evaluation of ethanol extracts of leaves and fruit of Piper sarmentosum for in vivo hepatoprotective activity

The present study is aimed to describe hepatoprotective activity of extracts of a medicinal plant, Piper sarmentosum, in rats against CCl₄-induced toxicity. Seven groups of Sprague Dawley rats each containing six animals were treated as: group I (CCl₄), group II (control), group III and IV (fruit extract 500 and 250 mg/kg, respectively), group V and VI (leaf extract 500 and 250 mg/kg, respectively) and group VII (vitamin-E). The extracts and vitamin-E were administered orally for 14 days whilst equivalent amount of sample vehicle was administered to CCl₄ and control groups. Four hour following the last dose, a single dose of CCl4 (1.5 mg/kg, 1:1 olive oil) was administered orally to animals of all the groups except control. After 24 h blood was collected for the determination of hepatic function markers, and the animals were sacrificed to get liver for histology. Comparison of hepatic function markers and histology of pretreated and CCl₄ groups indicated that both the extracts in the two doses had protected liver from CCl₄ toxicity (P < 0.05). It is concluded from the present study that use of the plant as a vegetable or in the form of extracts may be valuable to protect liver from oxidative stress in hepatitis and long-term therapy Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aires