*Corresponding author: Dr. M. Muthulingam, Associate Professor, Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar-608 002, Email: muthuau@rediffmail.com, Mobile: +91 9843629002. International Journal of Zoology and Applied Biosciences ISSN: 2455-9571 Volume 1, Issue 1, pp: 67-71, 2016 http://www.ijzab.com https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1308666 Research Article ANTIHEPATOTOXIC EFFICACY OF MUSHROOM, AGARICUS BLAZEI MURRILL AGAINST CARBON TETRACHLORIDE INDUCED LIVER DAMAGE IN MALE ALBINO WISTAR RATS M. Muthulingam 1 *, S. Senthilmaran 1 , V. Kurinji 3 , N. Indra 1 and S. Sethupathy 2 1 Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar-608 002, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar-608 002, Tamil Nadu, India 3 Department of Biotechnology, Dayananda Sagar College, Bangalore- 560 078, India Article History: Received 28 th February 2016; Revised 17 th April 2016; Accepted 22 nd April 2016 ABSTRACT Mushrooms have a long history of use in folk medicine, and higher Basidiomycetes have become matters of great interest, due to their many-fold nutritional, medicinal, and pharmacological properties. Mushroom extracts are widely sold as nutritional supplements and touted as beneficial for health. Agaricus blazei is widely used for nonprescript, medicinal purposes, both as an edible mushroom and in the form of extracts. According to tradition, it helps against a variety of diseases, including cancer, diabetes, arteriosclerosis and hepatitis. The present study was undertaken to scientifically prove the traditional use of the mushroom against liver disorders. The therapeutic potential of A. blazei on liver damage was evaluated by carbon tetrachloride induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Male albino wistar rats were orally treated with A. blazei (250 and 500 mg/kg body weight) or silymarin (25 mg/kg) daily with administration of carbon tetrachloride (1 ml/kg body weight- ip) only for seven days. Carbon tetrachloride induced liver damage and significantly increased the activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bilirubin and cholesterol whereas protein level was decreased as compared with control. Treatment with A. blazei or silymarin consecutively for twenty eight days could significantly decrease the elevated activities of AST, ALT, ALP, bilirubin and cholesterol where as enhance the level of protein in serum when compared with carbon tetrachloride alone treated rats. Key words: Agaricus blazei, Carbon tetrachloride, Liver marker enzymes, Cholesterol. INTRODUCTION Liver diseases have become one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality all over the globe (Dinakar et al., 2010). Herbal drugs play a major role in the treatment of hepatic disorders. In the absence of reliable liver protective drugs in modern medicine, in India, a number of medicinal plants and their formulations are used to cure hepatic disorders in traditional systems of medicine (Girish et al., 2009). Several studies were conducted in the field of drug discovery and development but due to the side effects of modern medicine, natural remedies are considered to be effective and safe alternate treatments for hepatotoxicity (Madukiran et al., 2012). Carbon tetrachloride is one of the most widely used models to study hepatic damage which lead to progressive hepatic fibrosis and finally to cirrhosis (Natarajan et al., 2006). Fibrosis can be considered as an excessive accumulation of connective tissue in parenchymal organs. In the liver, fibrosis represents a very frequent event which follows chronic insult of sufficient intensity to trigger a “wound healing”-like reaction (Poli, 2000). Activated portal fibroblasts, myofibroblasts of bone marrow origin, and particularly hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), have been identified as major collagen-producing cells in the injured liver, playing a role in fibrogenesis (Bataller and Brenner, 2005). These cells are activated by fibrogenic cytokines such as TGF-beta1, angiotensin II, and leptin. After liver injury, HSCs become activated, converting themselves into a myofibroblast-like cells (Moreira, 2007). A. blazei Murill is a well known edible mushroom and considered as one of the most favorite culinary medicinal mushroom. The fungus has been used as nutritional therapies for many common diseases such