Hepatoprotective Effect of Leaves of Passiflora Foetida Linn. (passifloraceae) Against Paracetamol-Induced Liver Damage in Wistar Albino Rats

Liver disease is one of the most common public health problems in the word. In this study, we investigate the possible hepatoprotective effect of the aqueous extract of Passiflora foetida (AEPF) using paracetamol-induced liver damage albino rats as animal model. The rats were divided in groups consisting of six animals each and treated for seven consecutive days as following: group I was the normal control and received distilled water, group II was the negative control treated with distilled water; group III served as the positive control and pretreated with 100 mg/kg of silymarin; groups IV, V and VI were pretreated with the AEPF doses of 400, 600 and 800 mg/kg respectively. At the seventh day, the rats from group II to VI were given a dose of 2 g/kg of paracetamol (PCM) and 24 hours after this treatment, blood samples and pieces of liver were collected for biochemical and histopathological analysis. Results showed that in group II, PCM increased significantly the activity of liver enzymes (ALT, AST, and PAL), the serum level of total and direct bilirubin and decreased significantly the serum level of total cholesterol, triglyceride and total protein in rats. Also, the liver tissue of the PCM-treated group exhibited severe acute centrilobular associated to periportal necrosis and haemorrhagic lesions in comparison to normal control rats. However, the biochemical and histopathological adverse effects of PCM were suppressed or reduced significantly by the pretreatment of rats with silymarin and AEPF dose dependently. These data indicated that Passiflora foetida possessed hepatoprotective effects similar to those of silymarin probably due to its saponins, phenols and flavonoids contents.