A comparative study of therestorative effects of Ocimum gratissimum and Ocimum canum on alcohol induced hepatotoxicity in albino rats

Abstract

Many species of Ocimum possess anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-microbial properties and the plants are widely used in Ayurveda. The oxidative stress induced by ethanol consumption had been implicated the changes in the structure and functions of liver cells especially the membrane phospholipids leading to lipid peroxidation. This study was to assess the curative potential of the methanol extract of two different species of Ocimum, O. canum and O. gratissimum on alcohol induced hepatotoxicity in albino rats. Male Wister rats of body weight 200-250 g, were divided into 6 groups of six rats each as (1) NC - normal control with normal diet (2) EC - alcohol control fed on alcohol for thirty days; (3) EX -1 MEOG (methanol extract of Ocimum gratissimum) only to check the toxicity of the extract, (4) EX - 2 MEOC (methanol extract of Ocimum canum) only to check whether the extract had any toxic effect of its own and (5) EX - 3 MEOG after treating with ethanol for thirty days and confirming the hepatotoxicity, and (6) EX - 4 MEOC after the ethanol treatment. The rats were sacrificed after 30 days, and the blood collected for biochemical estimations. The results indicated that there were significant difference between the experimental rats (EX-groups) when compared with alcohol control (ECgroup) in all the parameters checked and they were not significantly different from the normal control (NC-group). The curative effect was established in groups 5 and 6, which showed a significant difference in antioxidant levels of all the parameters checked and retrieved its antioxidant status almost to the normal control. To come to the absolute normal condition of antioxidant levels it might have been needed a prolonged treatment for a longer period. Again, the groups, treated with extracts only, did not show any negative effect, which clearly indicated that the extract had no toxic effects. The use of antioxidant is an important preventive and curative method to minimize the pathological and toxic effects of oxidative stress induced by ethanol toxicity. Thus from the result obtained we conclude that MEOG and MEOC could effectively restore the antioxidant system from the oxidative stress induced by ethanol toxicity. In addition, there were no significant differences between the curative effects of these two species of Ocimum in terms of their effect on oxidative stress induced by ethanol toxicity.