___________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: Email: aadetutu@lautech.edu.ng; British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research 3(4): 1574-1586, 2013 SCIENCEDOMAIN international www.sciencedomain.org Hepatoprotective and Antioxidant Effect of Hibiscus Polyphenol Rich Extract (HPE) Against Carbon Tetrachloride (CCL 4 ) –Induced Damage in Rats Adewale Adetutu 1* and Abiodun O. Owoade 1 1 Department of Biochemistry, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, Nigeria. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration between all authors. Author AOO designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Author AA managed the analyses of the study and the literature searches and wrote the final draf. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Received 16 th March 2013 Accepted 4 th May 2013 Published 10 th May 2013 ABSTRACT Aims: Hibiscus sabdariffa is a medicinal plant that is consumed for its health benefits in Africa. The study was designed to investigate the hepatoprotective potentials of Hibiscus polyphenolic rich extract (HPE), (a group of phenolic compounds occurring in the dried calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa) against CCl4-induced damaged in rats. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Biochemistry, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, Nigeria, between January 2011 and June 2012. Methodology: Liver injury was measured in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) along with reduction of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and reduced glutathione (GSH). The antioxidant activity of HPE was evaluated using DPPH and ABTH radical scavenging assay in vitro. Results: The antioxidant investigation showed that HPE was able to scavenge the ABTS and DPPH radicals and these radicals scavenging abilities were found to be dose- dependent. Pretreatment of rats with different doses of HPE (50 and 100 mg/kg) Research Article