Hepatoprotective Effects of Some Plants

Liver diseases have become serious problem nowadays, and there are no’efficient drugs to protect the liver or to treat liver diseases without side effects.For these reasons, herbal products and alternative medicine are essential toreplace the chemical therapeutics .Zingiber officinale (ginger) and foeniculum vulgare (fennel) have beenknown in alternative medicine for treatment of many disorders as digestive and respiratory disorders.The present study was carried out to evaluate the hepatoprotective effectof zingiber officinale rhizome and foeniculum vulgare essential oil and fixed oil by using carbon tetrachloride as a hepatotoxic model and silymarin as a standard hepatoprotective. This effect was tested through biochemical and histopathological changes.The experimental design was as follows:- Eighty adult male albino rats were divided into 8 groups:-Group (1):- control (received 1.5 ml/kg olive oil).Group (2):- CC14 (received CC14 in olive oil, 1 :7, 1.5 ml/kg, liP).Group (3):-standard (received silymarin, 25 mg/kg, orally) + CC14 (1.5 ml/kg, IIP).Group (4):- ginger (received ginger ethanolic extract, 200 mg/kg, orally) + CC14 (1.5 ml/kg, IIP).Group (5):- FEO (received fennel essential oil, 0.3 ml/kg, liP) + CC14 (1.5 ml/kg, IIP).