Original Articles
Ozougwu J. C.*, Obiukwu C. E.,
Abstract
In view of the increase in liver toxicity caused by acetaminophen overdose in the past few decades, this present study was designed to compare the restorative effects of three plant extracts against acetaminophen-induced liver toxicity in rats. One hundred and eight (108) adult male albino rats comprising of nine normal and ninety-nine acetaminophen hepatotoxic rats were used for the study and acetaminophen liver toxicity was induced by single administration of acetaminophen at 750mg/kg ip on the first day of the experiment. The summary of comparative restorative effects of A. cepa, A. sativum and Z. officinale extracts showed that Z. officinale at 450mg/kg produced the best cumulative percentage decrease (-212.34) on all the restorative parameters assessed and ranked 9 on a 10 points scale, followed by Z. officinale at 300mg/kg (-206.79), ranked 8 and then Z. officinale at 200mg/kg (-191.79) and ranked 7. They were closely followed by A. sativum at 450mg/kg (-190.3), ranked 6, A. sativum at 300mg/kg (- 184.86), ranked 5 and A. cepa at 300mg/kg (179.28), ranked 4. Similarly A. cepa at 450mg/kg (-179.05) ranked 3, A. sativum at 200mg/kg (-170.33) ranked 2 and A. cepa at 200mg/kg (-164.56) ranked 1 on a 10 points scale. Normal control did not have significant percentage change; acetaminophen control had a cumulative percentage increase of about 57.05 whereas silymarin decreased the parameters cumulatively with -250.46 percent. Zingiber officinale produced the best significant restorative effect when compare to Allium cepa and Allium sativum extracts.