Protective effect of the methanolic leaf extract of persea anericana (avocado) against paracetamol-induced acute hepatotoxicity in rats

Paracetamol (PCM) is an analgesic, antipyretic drug available as an over the counter (OTC) medication which causes hepatotoxicity at high doses. The effect of Persea americana (PA) (200 and 400 mg kg-1 body weight, administered for 8 days) on paracetamol-induced acute hepatic damage was studied by investigating the effects on liver function, Glutathione-S-transferase (GST), reduced glutathione (GSH) and antioxidant enzymes - Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT). Acute hepatotoxicity was induced by administering 2 g kg-1 body weight of PCM orally on the eight day. All rats were sacrificed 7 h after the administration of PCM. The results show that PCM at a dose of 2 g kg-1 body weight induced acute hepatotoxicity 7 h after oral administration as evident by the increase in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities. This was also associated with depletion of hepatic GSH, decrease in GST activity and decrease in the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD and CAT). The methanol leaf extract of PA dose-dependently protected against acute hepatotoxicity induced by PCM by increasing the activity of the antioxidant enzymes and preventing GSH depletion. The results indicate that the extract protects against PCM-induced hepatotoxicity presumably via antioxidant action. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information.