Hepatoproctive effects of benincasa hispida on paracetamol induced hepatotoxity among the wister albino Rats

Abstract

Paracetamol is an over-the-counter medication commonly used for managing low grade pain and fever. However, despite its clinical effectiveness it has been associated with liver disease when taken in overdose. From literatures, Benincasa hispida has been associated with the hepatoprotective effects on drug induced hepatotoxicity. However, there is paucity of literature showing the hepatoprotective effects of Benincasa hispida on paracetamol induced hepatotoxicity. The aims of the study were to evaluate the hepatoprotective effects of Benincasa hispida on paracetamol induced hepatotoxicity, determine the gross histomorphological changes that occur on liver following paracetamol induced hepatotoxicity to also determine the hepatoprotective effect of Benincasa hispida seed extracts on paracetamol induced hepatotoxicity and to lastly evaluate different levels of biochemical parameters required in hepatoprotection in paracetamol induced hepatotoxicity. A controlled- experimental study design where a post-test group of wister albino rats was used. The modified resource equation was used to select twenty- five animals and separate them into five groups each. The first group was the control and the other remaining four were the experimental group one, two, three and four. The control was only administered with water adlibitum, the group one experimental group was administered with an induction dose of 1500mg of paracetamol, the second, third and fourth experimental groups were administered with a constant dose of 1500mg of paracetamol and later administered with different doses of 100mg/kbwt, 200mg/kbwt and 300mg/kbwt Benincasa hispida respectively. All the animals the animals were humanely sacrificed on the twentieth day. Blood was collected, liver tissue were histologically prepared, and photomicrographs taken. The collected data were entered into the excel and uploaded into SPSS. One way ANOVA was used to test the difference between the group means and the Bonferroni post hoc test was used to find the significance, P-value of < 0.05 at a 95% confidence interval was found to be statistically significant. Data were presented in tables, and figures. There was significance (p≤ 0.001) reduction in the weight, length, width and thickness of the liver in the Paracetamol group as related with the control group. There was statistical (p≤ 0.001) difference of the weight, length, width and thickness of the liver of the HBH group as compared to the Paracetamol group. There was statistical (p ≤ 0.001) significance in the level of the alkaline phosphatase aspartate aminotransferase, Alanine aminotransferas and alkaline phosphatase in the High dose of Benincasa Hispida group as compared to the paracetamol group. The High Dose of Benincasa Hispida was alble to protect the hepatoprotective effects of Paracetamol induced hepatotoxicity