Pharmacologyonline 3: 487-494 (2008) Firdous et al. 487 EVALUATION OF HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF SAPONIN OF MOMORDICA DIOICA ROXB. AGAINST CARBON TETRACHLORIDE INDUCED HEPATIC INJURY IN RATS Firdous * , Raju Koneri ** , Pallab Haldar # , Gopalakrishna Burdipad* * Department of Pharmacology, R R College of Pharmacy, Chickkabanavara, Bangalore:560090 ** Department of Pharmacology, Visveswarapura Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, BSK 2 nd stage, Bangalore: 5600070 # Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, Jadavpur, Kolkata Correspondence to: firdous_cology@rediffmail.com Summary The saponin fraction of fruits of Momordica dioica (Cucurbitaceae) was investigated for hepatoprotective effects in male wistar rats. The saponin fraction of Momordica dioica (SMD) (27.5 & 55 mg/kg p.o.) administered to the carbon tetrachloride treated rats. The saponin fraction or silymarin produced a significant (P < 0.05) hepatoprotective effect by decreasing the activity of AST, ALT, ALP, bilirubin and increasing the activity of total protein. The group treated with the SMD showed normal parenchymal architecture with cords of hepatocytes, portal tracts and central veins without noticeable alterations. The result reveled that SMD protect the liver cells from carbon tetrachloride induced liver damages, by its antioxidative effect on hepatocytes. The drug silymarin (100mg/kg p.o) was used as standard. Key words: Saponin, Carbon Tetrachloride, Hepatotoprotective, Momordica dioica, Hepatocytes, Silymarin Introduction Liver diseases, especially viral hepatitis occurs predominantly in the developing world with enormous impact on public health and economy 1 . Carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4 ) is widely used in animal models to induce acute liver injury 2, 3, 4 . It is generally believed that the toxicity of CCl 4 results from its reductive dehalogenation by the cytochrome P450 enzyme system into the highly reactive free radical trichloromethyl radical 5 . Antioxidant action has been reported to play a crucial role in the hepatoprotection 6 . Momordica dioica belonging to family Curcubitaceae found in coastal Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh state. It has been reported that the plant contain aliphatic constituents (6- methyl tritriacont-50on-28-of and 8-methyl hentracont-3-ene) and sterol (pleuchiol) and pentacylic triterpene (momodicaursenol) an unknown isolated from the seeds, has been identified as urs-12, 18(19)-dien-3 beta-ol 7 .