부산대학교 도서관

Antioxidants are imperative substances which possess the facility to protect the body from injure caused by free radical induced oxidative stress. A diversity of free radical scavenging antioxidants exist within the body, many of them are derived from dietary sources like fruits, vegetables and teas. In this study antioxidant activity of ethanolic extract of Bombax ceiba bark and leave was investigated using CCl4 intoxicated rat liver as the experimental model. Rats divided into five groups were administered with CCl4 and CCl4 along with ethanolic extract of bark and leave of Bombax ceiba (200 mg/kg b.wt) for 9 days. In the last day of activity, rats were anaesthetized and blood samples were collected for serum separation. Biochemical analysis such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was done in serum. Liver tissue was used for glutathione (GSH) level, gluatathione reductase (GRD), glutathione-S-transferase (GST)and catalase (CAT) analysis and histopathology studies. The activities of their tissue antioxidant enzymes increased significantly in animals consequent to CCl4 (Group II)-induced hepatic damage as compared to the normal animals (Group I). Oral administration of leaves and bark extract at the dose of 200mg/kg (Group IV/V) showed significant decreased in LDH, CAT, GRD, GST and GSH when compared with CCl4-treated rats. Treatment with bombax ceiba bark extract (Group V) showed only marginal decreased in the level of antioxidant enzymes in liver homogenate compared with CCl4-treated rats, but leave extract give acceptable activity. Thus, the activities of LDH, CAT, GRD, GST and GSH were restored by bombax ceiba treatment. Histopathological examination showed lowered liver damage in Bombax ceiba leave-treated groups. The findings show that Bombax ceiba offers better protection against the free radical toxicity of CCl4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]