Romanian Biotechnological Letters Vol. 19, No.6, 2014 Copyright © 2014 University of Bucharest Printed in Romania. All rights reserved ORIGINAL PAPER 10006 Romanian Biotechnological Letters, Vol. 19, No. 6, 2014 The effect of Argyrolobium roseum (Camb.) Jaub&Spach on some liver function biochemical parameters Received for publication, June 10, 2013 Accepted, August 20, 2013 LIAQAT HUSSAIN 1 , JAVARIA IKRAM 1 , MUHAMMAD HANIF 2 , FAISAL USMAN 2 , MUHAMMAD ZIA-UL-HAQ 3 , VICTOR VELTER 4 , DIANA BADIU 5 , TONY HANGAN 6 1 College of Pharmacy, Government College University Faialabad, Pakistan 2 Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan-60800, Pakistan 3 The Patent Office, Karachi, Pakistan 4 Scientometrics Office, UESFISCDI, Bucharest- 010362,Romania 5 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Ovidius University of Constanta, Romania 6 Department of Medical Informatics and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Ovidius Universityof Constanta,Romania *Address correspondence to: Department of Medical Informatics and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Ovidius University of Constanta (Romania), Email: toni@medcon.ro; tonyhangan@yahoo.com; The Patent Office, Karachi, Pakistan, Email: ahirzia@gmail.com Abstract Research on hepatoprotective effect from vegetables is increasingly focused on their potential on human health. In the present study, the effect of Argyrolobium roseum (Camb.) Jaub & Spach methanolic extract against hepatic toxicity induced by paracetamol (1g/kg) in blood samples of Swiss Albino mice was tested, by investigating the alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total and direct bilirubin parameters. Standard drug silymarin (100mg/kg) was used as reference. Intra-peritoneal administration of the extract was achieved daily for 7 days at two different doses (i.e. 300 mg/kg and 600mg/kg) followed by paracetamol administration. Our results reveal the fact that methanolic extracts of Argyrolobium roseum (Camb.) Jaub&Spach protected the liver function from the hepatotoxic effect of paracetamol, as shown by the lower values of the five analyzed biochemical parameters in animals that received the methanolic extract as compared to the silymarin group, and merit considerations to be used as future components in a range of pharmaceutical formulations with hepatoprotective activity. Keywords: Argyrolobium roseum (Camb.) Jaub&Spach, hepatoprotective, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin. 1. Introduction In the recent years, there has been an increasing trend towards the exploration of safer and effective hepatoprotective potential from natural dietary sources like vegetables [1]. The antioxidant effect of vegetables, like Argyrolobium roseum (Camb.) Jaub&Spach (Papilionaceae), cultivated in northern areas like Kashmir, Peshawar, Haripur, Khan, Islamabad, Abbottabad, Jhelum, Murree, and Baluchistan, as a wild legume [2], is mainly due to the occurrence of flavonoids, glycosides, vitexin and D-pinitol [3]. However, few reports dealing with the obtaining of extracts and further determination of the compounds with hepatoprotective potential can be found mainly due to the low efficiency (in terms of quantities) in their extraction that did not encourage further investigations of these useful and promising extracts [3].