Research Article Toxicological Evaluation and Hepatoprotective Efficacy of Rosmarinic Acid-Rich Extract from Ocimum basilicum L. Ilham Touiss , Sabir Ouahhoud , Mohamed Harnafi , Saloua Khatib , Oussama Bekkouch , Souliman Amrani , and Hicham Harnafi Laboratory of Bioresources, Biotechnologies, Ethnopharmacology and Health, Faculty of Sciences, University Mohammed I, 60000 Oujda, Morocco Correspondence should be addressed to Ilham Touiss; touissilham@gmail.com Received 16 November 2020; Revised 16 January 2021; Accepted 20 January 2021; Published 1 February 2021 Academic Editor: Armando Zarrelli Copyright © 2021 Ilham Touiss et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Exposure to carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) induces acute and chronic liver injuries as well as oxidative stress in rats. e present study was designed to evaluate the in vivo toxicity of rosmarinic acid-rich extract from Ocimum basilicum (RAE). e acute and subchronic oral toxicity of RAE was evaluated in Albinos mice. Hepatotoxicity was induced by the administration of CCl 4 -induced hepatic injury in rats. e hepatoprotective effect of RAE on aspartate aminotransferase, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, bilirubin, total protein, albumin, triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, plasmatic glucose, urea, creatinine, and malondialdehyde was determined in CCl 4 -intoxicated rat. e extract did not produce treatment-related signs of toxicity or mortality in any of the animals tested during acute as well as subchronic toxicity studies. e administration of CCl 4 resulted in marked increase in plasma hepatic enzymes (p < 0.001) and significant decrease of total protein (p < 0.001) and albumin (p < 0.001) when compared to normal. e RAE at 200 mg/kg body weight lowered significantly (p < 0.001) plasma enzyme activities of liver, which is designation of hepatoprotective action of extract. e phenolic extract exerts a significant increase in total protein (p < 0.001), and albumin (p < 0.001), accompanied with a marked reduction in the levels of malondialdehyde (p < 0.001), as compared to CCl 4 -treated group. Our study suggests that RAE may be used as a hepatoprotective agent against toxic effects caused by CCl 4 and other chemical agents in the liver. 1. Introduction e liver plays a central and important role in regulating various physiochemical functions of the body as digestion, biosynthesis, secretion, and detoxification [1]; it is always vulnerable to different toxic molecules of foreign origin due to its location in the human body [2]. Carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) is largely used for experimental induction of liver damage; it is a typical liver toxicant [3]. e main causes of CCl 4 -induced hepatic damage are raised lipid peroxidation and decreased activities of antioxidant enzymes and gen- eration of free radicals [4]. Hepatotoxicity is the term used to describe the functional and structural damage of liver caused by the abuse or misuse of potent medicines and con- sumption of other hepatotoxic agents; among these agents are alcohol, infections, and chemicals like carbon tetra- chloride [5]. However, excessive intake of these chemicals may still result in oxidative damage to tissue organs by massive production of free radicals, which leads to structural and functional damage to the membrane and eventually causing serious toxicity to hepatocytes [6]. Moreover, oxi- dative stress, which is the result of an excess of reactive oxygen species over the antioxidant defenses of the or- ganism, has been considered as a conjoint pathological mechanism and it contributes to initiation and progression of liver injury [7]. In fact, effects of antioxidants or free radical scavengers have been extensively tested for the prevention and treatment of acute and chronic liver injuries [8]. is is the reason why in several studies antioxidants have shown beneficial effects, particularly for prevention and treatment of liver injury [9, 10]. On this basis, it has been theorized that aggressive antioxidant therapy would im- prove outcomes in liver damages. On top of that, treatment of liver disease with synthetic drugs may be inadequate or Hindawi Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2021, Article ID 6676998, 10 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6676998