Agroecology for Sustainable Food Security - tnsroindia.org.in

Indian Journal Of Natural Sciences ISSN: 0976 – 0997
Vol1 / Issue 2 / October 2010 © IJONS
[1]. Presently, only a few hepatoprotective drugs and that to from natural sources are available for the treatment of
the liver disorder. Several plant materials (including roots, stem, barks, leaves, flowers etc.) were used to combat
various aliments [2]. Human beings are exposed on a daily basis to certain toxic chemicals and pathogens, which are
causing certain serious health problems, amongst them 1, 4 dichlorobenzene also one of the toxic substances widely
used in printing ink, textiles, pesticides, and plastics. Coccinia grandis L. (Curcubitaceae) is a climber herb cultivated
throughout India. The fruit is used to treat leprosy, fever, asthma, Jaundice and sore throats [3] [4]. The alcoholic
extract of the plant is used as hypoglycemic and antioxidant agent [5], [6]. A compound polyprenol isolated from the
ethanolic extract possesses anti-dyslipidimic activity [7]. Therefore, in the present investigation an attempt was made
to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of the leaf extract of Coccinia grandis L against 1, 4 dichlorobenzene induced
hepatoxicity in rats.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Kalavathi and Krishnamoorthy
Plant material
Fresh Coccinia grandis L. leaves were collected from Pudukkottai District in Tamil Nadu. The collected leaves were
shade dried and then homogenized into fine particles Then 250g powder form of leaves were extracted with ethanol
using Soxhlet apparatus. The greenish black residues obtained was stored in sample bottles wrapped with
aluminium foil, at 40 o C for drying the excess solvent present in the extract. Finally got powder form and then extract
was dissolved in saline before use.
Animals
Wister albino rats (150 – 200g) of either sex were procured from Sri Venkateshwara Enterprises, Bangalore. They
were maintained under standard environmental condition (Temperature 28 0 C) and allowed access to standard
laboratory feed and water ab libitum. The animals were allowed to acclimatize to the laboratory condition for a week
before they were used for the experiment.
Acute toxicity studies
Acute oral toxicity of Coccinia grandis L. were determined using Wister albino rats. The animals were fasted overnight
and provided only water, after which the extracts were administrated orally at the dose (single) and then the animals
more observed for 14 days, when mortality was observed in 2 or 3 animals, the dose administrated was recorded as a
toxic dose. But when mortality was observed in one animal, then the same dose was repeated again for confirmation.
However, if mortality was not observed, the procedure was repeated for further higher doses such as, 300 and 600,
1000 mg / kg body weight. Toxic symptoms for which the animals were observed for 72 hours include behavioral
changes, locomotion, convulsions, and mortality.
Experimental Design
The experimental animals were divided into 4 groups of 6 animals each and treated as follows.
Group 1 (Control) : Animals that received only normal diet and
Water ab libitium
Group 2 : Animals that received ethanolic leaf extract of
Coccinia grandis L (200 mg / kg) per oral for
13 weeks
Group 3 : Animals received Dichlorobenzene (DCB) only
300mg / kg body weight for 13 weeks
Group 4 : Animals received ethanolic extract of Coccinia
grandis L. (200 mg / kg) daily for 13 weeks along
with Dichlorobenzene (300 mg / kg).
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