Hepatoprotective and Antioxidant Effect of Hibiscus Polyphenol Rich Extract (HPE) Against Carbon Tetrachloride (CCL4) - Induced Damage in Rats

Aims: Hibiscus sabdariffa is a medicinal plant that is consumed for its health benefits in Africa. The study was designed to investigate the hepatoprotective potentials of Hibiscus polyphenolic rich extract (HPE), (a group of phenolic compounds occurring in the dried calyx of Hibiscus sabdariffa) against CCl4-induced damaged in rats. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Biochemistry, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, Nigeria, between January 2011 and June 2012. Methodology: Liver injury was measured in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) along with reduction of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and reduced glutathione (GSH). The antioxidant activity of HPE was evaluated using DPPH and ABTH radical scavenging assay in vitro. Results: The antioxidant investigation showed that HPE was able to scavenge the ABTS and DPPH radicals and these radicals scavenging abilities were found to be dosedependent. Pretreatment of rats with different doses of HPE (50 and 100 mg/kg) significantly lowered serum ALT, AST, ALP, LDH and TBARS levels in CCl4 treated rats. GSH, SOD and CAT were significantly increased by pre-treatment with the HPE, in CCl4 treated rats. HPE was found to contain high level of total phenolic content (140.78mg/g in GAE/g dried weight). Hence, these data indicate that the dietary supplement of Hibiscus extract may inhibit liver damage in rats. Conclusion: The hepatoprotective activities observed in this study could be due to the ability of phenolic compounds to neutralize the free radicals produced from the metabolism of CCl4.