Investigation of Hepatoprotective Effect of Delonix Regia Leaves in Paracetamol Induced Hepatotoxicity in SD Rats

Medicinal plants have been used to treat liver diseases by folk medical practitioners for long time. Delonix regia has been used in traditional medicine to alleviate several diseases. Present study investigated the hepatoprotective effect of Delonix regia leaves in paracetamol induced hepatotoxicity in rats. SD Rats (140–200g) were used. Acute hepatotoxicity was induced by paracetamol (700mg/kg body weight) administered once daily for one week whereas the test extract was given orally throughout the whole experiment at 300 and 600mg/kg body weight. Silymarin (100mg/kg b.w.) was given orally as standard hepatoprotective drug. The degree of hepatoprotection was determined by the estimation of biochemical parameters like SGPT, SGOT, ALP, bilirubin and total protein. The increased levels of hepatic enzymes including SGPT, SGOT, ALP and bilirubin was found in the paracetamol control group, which may be due to the liver cell damage or changes in the cell membrane permeability indicating severity of hepatocellular damage induced by paracetamol. Treatment with Delonix regia and silymarin recovered the increased levels of these hepatic enzymes significantly to reduced levels. The results of the study evidenced that the Delonix regia leaves has shown hepatoprotective activity against paracetamol induced hepatotoxicity in rats