~ Pergamon 0306-3623(94)00194-4 Gen. Pharmac. Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 309-315, 1995 Copyright © 1995Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0306-3623/95$9.50 + 0.00 Preventive and Curative Effects of Artem&ia absinthium on Acetaminophen and CC14-induced Hepatotoxicity ANWAR-UL HASSAN GILANI* and KHALID HUSSAIN JANBAZ Department of Pharmacology, The Aga Khan University Medical College, Faculty of Health Sciences, Karachi-74800, Pakistan [Fax: (92) 21 493 4294] (Received 4 July 1994) Abstract--1. Effect of aqueous-methanolic extract ofArtemisia absinthium (Compositae) was investigated against acetaminophen- and CCl4-inducedhepatic damage. 2. Acetaminophen produced 100% mortality at the dose of 1 g/kg in mice while pretreatment of animals with plant extract (500 mg/kg) reduced the death rate to 20%. 3. Pretreatment of rats with plant extract (500 mg/kg, orally twice daily for two days) prevented (P < 0.01) the acetaminophen (640 mg/kg) as well as CCI 4(1.5 ml/kg)-inducedrise in serum transaminases (GOT and GPT). 4. Post-treatment with three successivedoses of extract (500 mg/kg, 6 hr) restricted the hepatic damage induced by acetaminophen (P < 0.01) but CC14-inducedhepatotoxicity was not altered (P > 0.05). 5. Plant extract (500 mg/kg) caused significant prolongation (P < 0.05) in pentobarbital (75 mg/kg)- induced sleep as well as increased strychnine-induced lethality in mice suggestive of inhibitory effect on microsomal drug metabolizing enzymes (MDME). 6. These results indicate that the crude extract of Artemisia absinthium exhibits hepatoprotective action partly through MDME inhibitory action and validates the traditional use of plant in hepatic damage. Key Words: Artemisia absinthium, preventive, curative, acetaminophen, CC14, hepatotoxicity INTRODUCTION Artemisia absinthium Linn. (Family: Compositae), commonly known as "Wormwood" or "Vilayati afsanteen" is a perennial herb growing wild in northern hilly areas of Pakistan (Haq, 1983). The plant is also commonly grown in the west and recognized for its medicinal value particularly in hepatobiliary complaints and in helminth infections (Keville, 1991). The herbal material (leaves and flowering tops) is regarded as anthclmintic, antiseptic, febrifuge and stomachic in the indigenous system of medicine and has been employed successfully to alleviate chronic fever, dyspepsia and hepatobiliary ailments (Nadkarni, 1976; Said, 1982). The plant has undergone extensive phytochemical investigations and the presence of a variety of *To whom all correspondence should be addressed. chemical constituents such as ascorbic acid (Klyshev and Alyukina, 1971; Slepetys, 1975), flavonoids (Hoffmann and Herrmann, 1982), carotenoids (Sergeeva and Zakharova, 1977), tannins (Slepetys, 1975) and lignans (Greger and Hofer, 1980) have been identified. Similarly, the phytopharmacological evaluation showed the presence of anti-inflammatory (Sommer et al., 1965), antipyretic (Ikram et al., 1987), antifertility (Rao et al., 1988), antibacterial (Kaul et al., 1976), antifungal (Maruzzella et al., 1960), anti-helmintic (Caius and Mahasker, 1920), antimol- lusk (Gurevich, 1948), anti-amoebic (Tahir et al., 1991) and antimalarial (Hernandez et al., 1990; Zafar et al., 1990) activities. However, scientific studies on its usefulness in liver damage are few and the aim of the present study was to confirm and validate the traditional hepatic efficiency of A. absinthium by using different animal models of hepatotoxicity. 309