Curative Potential of Aqueous Extract of Lemon Grass (Cymbopogon Citratus) on Cisplatin Induced Hepatotoxicity in Albino Wistar Rats

Cisplatin is an effective chemotherapeutic agent for a wide variety of tumors, but is reported to cause hepatic toxicity. In the current study, the dose dependent(5% and 10%) and time course curative potential of aqueous leaf extract of Cymbopogon citratus (C.C.) on cisplatin induced hepatotoxic rats using biochemical and histopathological approaches was evaluated. Male albino Wistar rats weighing between 150-200g were randomly separated into four different groups. Tissue damage was induced in rats of groups 2, 3 and 4 by a single intraperitoneal administration of cisplatin(5mg/kg b.w). Test rats in groups’ 3 and 4 were treated 3 days after cisplatin injection intraperitoneally (i.p) with 5% and 10% C.C. accordingly for 3,6,9 and 12 days. Rats in group 2 were given sterile water in place of the extracts while rats in group I were the untreated controls. They were all allowed unlimited access to tap water and growers’ mash. Cisplatin treatment caused increase (P? 0.05) in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) from 43.03 ± 1.29 to 127.90 ± 0.89 U/L and a decrease (P? 0.05) in serum protein concentration from 93.70 ± 0.61 to 50.43 ± 1.53 g/l. There were considerable decreases (P? 0.05) in body weight and liver weight to body weight ratio. However most of these changes were alleviated by prophylactic treatment with aqueous extract of Cymbopogon citratus dose and time dependently (P? 0.05).The ameliorating effect was further evident through decreased histopathological alterations of liver tissues in the groups treated with aqueous extract of Cymbopogon citratus (5% and 10%). The results of this study indicate that aqueous leaf extracts of Cymbopogon citratus has anti-hepatotoxic action against cisplatin induced hepatic toxicity in rats. Hence the extracts have the potential to be used for the management of hepatopathies and as a therapeutic adjuvant in cisplatin toxicity.