Samia M. A. El Badwi1*, Nabiela M. El Bagir2 and Ahmed E. Amin1 Hepatoprotective activity of Tamarindus indica against CCl4- induced toxicity in rats Samia M. A. El Badwi1*, Nabiela M. El Bagir2 and Ahmed E. Amin1 1-Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Khartoum, Sudan. 2- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Khartoum, Sudan Introduction Tamarindus indica belonging to the family Caesalpinaceae and is widely used in folkloric medicine in Sudan and known locally as Aradaib. T. indica fruits were used to treat fever, post partum remedy, measles (Roosita et al., 2008), and as a laxative (Havinga et al., 2010). In South coast community in Kenya, it is used as anti malarial therapy (Nuguta et al., 2010). The aqueous extract of seed of T. indica was found to have potent anti diabetogenic activity that reduced blood sugar level in Streprtozotocin (STZ) - induced diabetic male rat (Maiti et al., 2004). To investigate the role of T. indica in protecting liver damage by CCL4 The objective Fruit pulp of T. Indica was shade dried and then made into powder form and was extracted with ethanol according to the method of Trease and Evans (1983). Thirty Wister rats (130-150g) were used and were kept under standard environmental conditions. Rats were divided into 5 groups of 6 rats each. Rats in group 1 were given water orally for 5 days (normal control), rats in group 2, were injected with CCl4 0.2ml/kg diluted (1: 9) in liquid paraffin on day 2 and 3 and received water orally for 5 days. Rats in groups 3 and 4 were administered orally with Silymain at 50 mg/kg and 150 mg/kg ethanolic extract of T. indica respectively, for 5 days and on days 2 and 3 injected with CCl4 at 0.2 ml/kg diluted (1:9) in liquid paraffin. Group 5 was administrated orally with the plant extract alone at 150 mg/kg. Materials & Methods A B B Serum was analyzed for the activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and for the concentration of total bilirubin, total protein and albumin using commercial Kits (Biosystems, Barcelona Spain). The liver specimens were collected for histopathological examination. The mean value ± SEM was calculated for each parameter. Results were statistically analyzed by student’s t-test (Snedecor and Cochran 1989). D C Fig.1.Liver cells of rats treated with ethanolic extract of Tamarindus indica alone and /or CCL4 (A) Liver cells of rats treated with CCL4 showed necrosis and massive fatty changes.(B) ) Liver cells of rats treated with CCL4 and Silymarin ,showed slight fatty changes.(C) Liver cells of rats treated with CCL4 and 150 mg/kg T. Indica ,showed slight fatty changes.(D) Liver cells of rats treated with 150 mg/kg T. Indica showed normal liver architecture. C Results & Discussion The values of AST, ALT, ALP, Total bilirubin, Total protein and Albumin in serum of rats treated with ethanolic extract of T. indica were shown in Table (1). D Histopathological liver sections of the normal control showed normal hepatocytes. Histopathology results of treated rats is shown in Figure (1).The results of histopathological study support the results of biochemical parameters. The ability of hepatoprotective drugs to reduce the injurious effects or to preserve the normal hepatic physiological mechanisms that have been disturbed by a hepatotoxin is the index of its protective effects (Yadav and Dixit, 2003). The results of histopathological study support the results of biochemical parameters. Table (1): Effects of Tamarindus indica ethanolic extract on serum biochemical parameters of Wistar rats intoxicated with CCl4 Albumin (g/dL) Total Protein Total Bilirubin (mg/dL) ALP (I. u) ALT AST (I.u) Parameters Groups 2.47±1.01 NS 6.88±1.21 0.08±0.01 131.71±4.53 13.33±1.35 177.7±5.23 G1 (Control) 2.61±0.81 NS 6.86±1.02 NS 0.25±0.11** 259.82±6.11** 27.72±2.03** 327.33±7.4** G2 (CCl4) 2.46±0.72 NS 6.98±2.03NS 0.11±0.03* 216.53±4.32* 12.57±1.15* 219.75±5.63* G3 (CCl4 + Silymarin) 2.71±1.31 NS 7.05±1.71 * 0.13±0.02* 225.23±5.12* 17.42±2.54* 238.92±7.19* G4 (CCl4 + 150 mg/kg + .indica) 2.57±1.15 NS 6.75±1.20 NS 0.01±0.01* 148.87±4.71* 15.61±2.71* 197.77±6.33* G5 (150 mg/kg + T.indica) Conclusion We concluded that the ethanolic extract of Tamarindus indica fruit pulp possess hepatoprotective ingredients. We suggest increasing the plant dose to get more protection for the liver. References Values are means ± S.E.M. **Significant level: P<0.05 compared to normal group. *Significant level: P<0.05 compared to CCl4 group. NS: not significant. Ali S A M, El Badwi S M A, Idris T M, Osman K M, 2011. Hepatoprotective Activity of Aqueous Extract of Khaya senegalensis Bark in Rats. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research: 5(24), 5863-5866. Daniyan S Y, Muhammad H B, 2008. Evaluation of the Antimicrobial Activities and Phytochemical Properties of Extracts of Tamarindus indica against some Diseases Causing Bacteria. African Journal of Biotechnology: 7, 2451-2453. Elhag R A M, El Badwi, S M A , Bakhiet A O, Galal M, 2011.Hepatoprotective Activity of Solanum nigrum Extracts on Chemically Induced Liver Damage in Rats. Journal of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Health .3(4) 45-50. Havinga R M, Hart A, Putscher J, Prehsler S, Buchmann C, Vogl C R, 2010. Tamarindus indica L. (Fabaceae): Patterns of Use in Traditional African Medicine. J Ethnopharmacol. 127, 573-588. 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The improvement of liver functions which was evident by decreased level of enzyme AST, ALT and ALP and bilirubin together with histopathology was in line with the results obtained by Elhag et al., (2011) and Ali et al., (2011) when treated CCl4 intoxicated rats with Solanum nigrum and Khaya senegalensis respectively. Daniyan and Muhammad (2008) reported the presence of moderated concentration of tannins and alkaloids and low concentration of flavonoids and saponin in the ethanolic extract of the fruit pulp of T. indica, the presence of these compounds could be responsible for the membrane stabilizing activity. Acknowledgment Authors are thankful to Directorate for Scientific Research and Cultural Relations, University of Khartoum for providing fund for the project of hepatoprotective plants. Authors are grateful to Mr. Mohamed Eldaow for the laboratory assistance.