Protective action of Taraxacum officinale on CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity in rats

Plants are important source of medicines, especially in developing countries, where people use plant based traditional medicines for their health care. Leaves of Taraxacum officinale L. are being used against various human disorders in folk medicine since past. Current study was conducted to explore the hepatoprotective activity of methanolic leaves extract of T. officinale L. against carbontetrachloride (CCl4) induced toxicity in rats. Various concentrations of plant   extracts like 150 and 300 mg/kg of body weight as well as silymarin (100 mg/kg), a standard drug, was given to experimental animals. The results of this study indicates that the methanolic leave extracts has significantly reduced (P < 0.05) the level of liver enzymes alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) which was increased  due to induction of CCl4. It was  also  observed that due to CCl4 induction, the  level of  bilirubin, lipid profile and antioxidants enzymes was also increased, that was significantly lowered after the treatment with the leave extracts. These results revealed that the leave extracts of T. officinale L. has protective effects against CCl4 induced liver toxicity and damage. Furthermore, histopahtological results obtained during this study also supported this claim and was probably due to presence of valuable phytochemicals in the leave extracts.   Key words:  Medicinal plants, Taraxacum officinale, leaves extract, animals, liver enzymes.