Potency of Methanolic Extract of Zizyphus jujuba Fruit against Carbontetrachloride Induced Hepatic Damage in Rats

A high percentage of the people living in developing countries use traditional medicines including medicinal herbs to meet their primary health care needs for various ailments including heapatic damage. Traditionally, the fruits of Zizyphus jujube extract have been used in Indian and Chinese system of medicine to strengthen liver function. However, there is no scientific evidence for confirming the efficacy of this herb. Hence, present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of methanolic extract of Zizyphus jujube fruit (MEZJ) on acute (0.5 ml/kg, p.o.) and chronic (0.2 ml/kg, p.o. twice weekly for eight weeks) models of liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) in rats. The MEZJ was administered orally at three different doses of 250 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg for eight weeks and ten days in chronic and acute models, respectively. The MEZJ (250 mg/kg, p.o.) significantly decreased levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and bilirubin in serum and increased the same in LTH in the chronic model. In acute liver injury, MEZJ (250 mg/kg, p.o.) and MEZJ (500 mg/kg, p.o.) altered biochemical markers in both serum and LTH indicating hepatoprotective effect. The MEZJ (250 mg/kg, p.o.) also showed significant rise in SOD and catalase activities in both chronic and acute models, while MEZJ (500 mg/kg, p.o.) caused elevation in antioxidant enzyme activities only in the acute model. The histopathological studies supported the biochemical findings. It is concluded that MEZJ possess good hepatoprotective effect at doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg orally, whereas, 1000 mg/kg was found to be non-effective in preventing the hepatic damage.