Annals of RSCB Vol. XVII, Issue 2/2012 207 PRELIMINARY RESULTS ON STUDY OF THE HEPATOPROTECTIVE AND ANTIMICROBIAL EFFECTS OF GENTIANA ASCLEPIADEA ETHANOLIC EXTRACT Maria Suciu 1,2,3 , Alexandra T. Gruia 2 , F. A. Mic 2 , L. Barbu-Tudoran 3 , V. Muntean 3 , A. Ardelean 1 1. „VASILE GOLDIS” WESTERN UNIVERSITY, LIFE SCIENCES DEPARTMENT, ARAD; 2. REGIONAL CENTER FOR TANSPLANT IMMUNOLOGY, COUNTY CLINICAL EMERGENCY HOSPITAL TIMISOARA; 3. BABES-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY, CLUJ-NAPOCA Summary Liver failure due to acetaminophen intoxication is the cause to many deaths and life threatening conditions every year, due to the fact that it is still an over the counter drug. There are plants that contain the necessary principles to counteract the toxic effect of acetaminophen and one of these are known in traditional medicine to be the gentian (Gentiana asclepiadea). The objective of this study was to demonstrate the hepatoprotective and antimicrobial effects of this gentian. For this we extracted the active principles in ethanol and analyzed it using a gas spectrometer coupled with a mass spectrometer, administered the extracts to mice, and conducted liver transaminases analysis, histology and ultrastructural analyses of the liver, GC-MS analysis of the extracts, and microbiology tests against a number of pathological strains. Our results show that the ethanolic extract of G. asclepiadea has a slight hepatoprotective effect, seen on both the enzyme analysis where it reduced the ALT and AST in comparison to the intoxicated group, and the histology and ultrastructure analyses both show a decrease in cellular degradation comparing to the intoxicated mice. The microbiology analysis shows that it produces a sensibility for Ps. aeruginosa, E. faecalis B. subtilis and C. albicans. Keywords: gentian, acetaminophen, liver failure, electron microscopy, GC-MS maria.suciu5@gmail.com Introduction Plants are the most resourceful source of material with medical principles for traditional and popular medicine, for natural nutrients and supplements, or for pharmaceuticals. Plants can also be a source for perfumes, flavors and cosmetics production (Handa et al., 2008). A study made by WHO in 1997 revealed that 80% of the developing countries population use plants to treat diverse affections. In United States 25% of drugs are plant extract based and in China or India more than 80% use plants for their everyday life treatments (Joy et al., 1998). Gentians are superior plants characterized by their bushy structure, with opposed leaves on an erect single stem, a slow growth but up to 60 years long existence due to their distinct bitter compounds found in the entire plant, but much concentrated in their roots, which keep them safe from animal consumption (Cristea, 2007, Robu and Milica, 2004). They are spread throughout Europe, Asia, North America and in a few Southern Hemisphere areas (Franz et al., 2005) and in Romania they tend to populate the forested counties (Mocanu and Răducanu, 1983), and G. asclepiadea is a shadow loving plant that grows all over the Carpathian Mountains (Temelie, 2006, Ardelean, 1999, 2006) up to a 4-500 meters altitude (Temelie, 2006), and can be recognized by its august sky-blue blooming at the base of its opposed dark green ovate