Swain Pramod Kumar et al / IJRAP 3(6), Nov – Dec 2012 893 Research Article www.ijrap.net HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF ENHYDRA FLUCTUANS LOUR. AERIAL PARTS AGAINST CCL 4 INDUCED HEPATOTOXICITY IN RATS Swain Pramod Kumar 1 *, Patro V. Jagannath 2 , Dinda Subas Chandra 3 , Nayak Durga Prasan 3 1 State Drug Testing & Research Laboratory(ISM), Govt. Ayurvedic Hospital Campus, BJB Nagar, Bhubaneswar, India 2 Roland Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Khodasingi, Berhampur, Odisha, India 3 School of Pharmaceutical Education & Research, Berhampur University, Odisha, India Received on: 09/08/12 Revised on: 18/10/12 Accepted on: 02/11/12 *Corresponding author E-mail: tstm_22@yahoo.co.in DOI: 10.7897/2277-4343.03646 Published by Moksha Publishing House. Website www.mokshaph.com All rights reserved. ABSTRACT Enhydra fluctuans Lour. an edible herbaceous vegetable plant and widely used in torpidity of liver and in nervous diseases. The different extracts (Pet-Ether extract, Chloroform extract and Ethanol extract) of Enhydra fluctuans aerial parts were studied for its hepatoprotective effect on CCl4- induced hepatotoxic rats. The extracts were referred as PEEF, CEF and EEF respectively. In the toxicity study, all the extracts did not produce any mortality even at the highest dose (2000mg/kg) so 200mg/kg dose was taken as the tested dose. The extracts were found to decrease significantly CCl4-induced elevation of SGOT, SGPT, bilirubin and total cholesterol at the dose of 200mg/kg body weight. But it increased HDL-cholesterol level and liver weight with respect to CCl4 toxic rats. Histopathological profiles of CCl4-induced hepatotoxic liver revealed extensive centrilobular necrosis extending to other necrotic areas, ballooning degeneration with steatosis. The protective effect of PEEF, CEF and EEF (200 mg/kg, p.o.) were confirmed by histopathological examination of liver section of control, CCl4-induced and extracts treated groups of rats. Though all the extracts showed remarkable effect. EEF (200mg/kg, p.o.) treated rats exhibited a significant improvement of hepatocellular architecture over CCl4-induced group as evident from considerable reduction in necrosis and steatosis which is comparable with the standard drug Silymarin (25mg/kg, p.o.). KEYWORDS: Enhydra fluctuans Lour., Hepatoprotective activity, Carbon Tetrachloride, Biochemical studies, Histopathology. INTRODUCTION The development of Ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicines with the perspectives of safety, efficacy and quality will help not only to preserve the traditional heritage but also to rationalize the use of natural products in the health care 1 . Hepatic disorders remain one of the serious health problems. Numerous medicinal plants and their formulations are used for liver disorders in ethno medical practices as well as in traditional Indian medicines 2 . Enhydra fluctuans Lour. an edible semi-aquatic herbaceous vegetable plant with serrate leaves grows all over India. The leaves are slightly bitter; cure inflammation, skin disease and good in small pox 3 . The leaves are also antibilious, used in torpidity of liver and also in nervous diseases 4 . It possesses nutritional value and its methanol extract has been reported to have analgesic activity 5 , anthelmintic and antimicrobial activity 6 . The leaves of Enhydra fluctuans have been reported to have hypotensive activity 7 . Chemical constituents like β-carotene 8 , sesquiterpene lactones 9, 10 , terpenes 11 have been reported from this plant. Two new chlorinated melampolides 12 have been isolated and reported recently. Along with this the different plant extracts were reported to contain pharmacologically active phytoconstituents like Flavonoids, Saponins, Steroids, Triterpenoids and Bitter principles 13 etc. As traditional medicines it is commonly used in India for cooling, carminative, tonic, liver-tonic, leprosy, coughs and especially in hepatopathy 14 . In our way to investigate the local medicinal plants for their potential therapeutic uses, present study was aimed to investigate the hepatoprotective activity of petroleum ether, chloroform and ethanol extract of the aerial parts of Enhydra fluctuans. MATERIALS AND METHODS Plant Materials The plant was identified by the taxonomists of the Botanical Survey of India, Govt. of India, Shibpur, Howrah. After authentication fresh aerial parts of the young and matured plants were collected in bulk from the rural belt of Salipur, Odisha, India during early summer, washed, shade dried and then milled in to coarse powder by a mechanical grinder. The powder was passed through sieve number 40 and used for further studies. Extract Preparation The powdered plant material was extracted successively with petroleum ether (60 0 -80C), chloroform and ethanol using Soxhlet apparatus. The solvent was removed under reduced pressure which obtained sticky residues. Petroleum ether, chloroform and ethanol extracts were referred as PEEF, CEF and EEF respectively. The dried extracts were stored in desiccators till further study. Drugs and Chemicals Silymarin was purchased from Micro labs, Tamilnadu, India, and Carbon tetrachloride (SISCO Research Laboratory, Mumbai). The solvents and other reagents used were of Analytical Grade. Animals Studies were carried out using Wistar albino rats (150– 180 g) of male sex and Swiss albino mice weighing between 20 and 25 gm. On arrival the animals were placed randomly and allocated to treatment groups in poly acrylic cages (38 × 23 × 10 cm) with paddy husk as