Antioxidant effect of Cytisus scoparius against carbon tetrachloride treated liver injury in rats

The study was aimed to investigate the antioxidant activity of Cytisus scoparius L. (Family: Legummosae) on CCl4 (carbon tetrachloride) treated oxidative stress in Wistar albino rats. CCl4 injection induced oxidative stress by a significant rise in serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminases (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruvate transaminases (SGPT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) along with reduction of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-s-transferase (GST) and glutathione reductase (GRD). Pretreatment of rats with different doses of plant extract (250 and 500 mg/kg) significantly lowered SGOT, SGPT, LDH and TBARS levels against CCl4 treated rats. GSH and hepatic enzymes like SOD, CAT, GPx, GRD, and GST were significantly increased by treatment with the plant extract, against CCl4 treated rats. The activity of extract at the dose of 500 mg/kg was comparable to the standard drug, silymarin (25 mg/kg). Based on these results, it was observed that Cytisus scoparius extract protects liver from oxidative stress induced by CCl4 in rats and thus helps in evaluation of the traditional claim on this plant. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.