Antioxidant activities of ethanolic extract of vernonia cinerea in carbon tetrachloride induced hepatic damage in rats

In this study, the ethanolic extract of Vernonia cinerea plant leaves were investigated for the antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects in male Wistar strain albino rats. The extract at a dose of 100mg/Kg body wt was administered orally to the CCl4 treated rats. The effect of extract on the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and reduced glutathione (GSH) content were estimated in the liver of rats intoxicated with CCl4. When compared to CCl4 treated group of rats, the extract significantly (p<0.05) increased the levels of SOD, CAT, GR, GSH, and GST. The extract also showed antioxidant effects by significantly decreasing (p<0.05) on FeCl2-Ascorbate induced lipid peroxidation in rat liver homogenate. these suggest that extract at a dose could protect the liver cells from CCl4 induced liver damages perhaps, by its antioxidant effect on hepatocytes and hence eliminating the deleterious effects of toxic metabolites from CCl4.the protective effect of extract in respect to biochemical changes were also confirmed by histopathological study in the liver sections.