Hepatoprotective activity of caesalpinia bonduc

Liver is the most important organ, which plays a pivotal role in regulating various physiological processes in the body. It is involved in several vital functions, such as metabolism, secretion and storage. Therefore, damage to liver inflicted by hepatotoxic agents is of grave concern. Modern medicine offered little protection with maximum side effects. Nearly 150 phytoconstituents from 101 plants have been claimed to possess liver protecting activity. At the same time, surprisingly, we do not have readily available satisfactory plant drugs/formulations to treat severe liver disease. The present study was carried out to evaluate the hepatoprotective of ethanolic extract of Caesalpinia bonduc using various animal screening models. CCl4 and Paracetamol challenged animal¿s demonstrated significant rise in the level of liver weight, liver volume, serum marker enzymes like AST, ALT, ALP and total and direct bilirubin. Ethanolic extract of C. bonduc brought down levels of all serum marker enzymes to normal and effects found to be comparable with that of standard drug silymarin. From results it can be concluded that ethanolic extract of C. bonduc possess hepatoprotective activity.