Cynodon Dactylon Effect as Hepatoprotective on CCl4 Induced Experimental Mice

Uday Sasi Kiran Kantheti*1, K. Sonali Chowdary2, Y. Sudheer Kumar Reddy3 
1Department of Pharmacology, Royal College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Berhampur-760002, Odisha
2Department of pharmacology, Aston University, Birmingham, UK.
3Department of pharmacology, Hanagal Shri Kumareshwar College of Pharmacy, Bagalkot, Karanataka
Received: 10 April 2014, Accepted: 18 May 2014, Published Online: 18 July 2014

Abstract
Medicinal plants having diverse pharmacological properties including cytotoxic and cancer chemopreventive effects can be developed as novel drugs for cancer chemoprevention. One of the best approaches in search for anticancer agents from plant resources is the selection of plants based ethno medical leads and testing the selected plants efficacy and safety in light of modern science. The present study aims in assessing the hepatoprotective activity of protein fraction of Cynodon dactylonon CCl4induced mice. Fresh leaves were homogenized with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at 4ºC to obtain 20 % homogenate. The supernatant obtained was used for the ammonium sulphate fractionation. Hepatoprotective role was evaluated in the liver of mice administered with and without protein fraction. Paraffin oil and PBS serves as the vehicle control for Silymarin and protein fraction respectively. Silymarin was used as the standard antioxidant. CCl4 acts as a hepatotoxin. The activity of enzymic antioxidants Catalase (CAT), Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Peroxidase (Px) were determined in the liver homogenate of the control and experimental mice. These effects were found to be more significant than that of Silymarin, the standard antioxidant and the CCl4the hepatotoxin. Administration of Cynodon dactylonplus CCl4 significantly decreases the levels of liver marker enzymes, hepatic enzymic and non enzymic antioxidants. The observed increased levels of lipid peroxides and decreased levels of enzymic and non enzymic antioxidants are the indications of liver damage due to high oxidative stress in CCl4induced mice when compared to the respective vehicle controls. The findings of the present study revealed that the Cynodon dactylonhad the potent hepatoprotective activity due to its antioxidant property against CCl4induced liver damage in mice.
Keywords: Protein fraction, Cynodon dactylon, enzymic antioxidants, lipid peroxides, marker enzymes, CCl4