Hepatoprotective and Antioxidant Activity of Edible Mushroom Termitomyces Hemii in Ccl4-Induced Hepatotoxicity in Albino Rats

Abstract

The present study included the assessment of hepatoprotective efficacy of the edible mushroom Termitomyces hemii against Carbon Tetrachloride (CCl₄) hepatotoxicity in albino Wistar rats. The aqueous extract of the fruiting bodies showed the presence of several pharmacologically important biochemical constituent compounds including flavonoids, alkaloids, phenolics, tannins, saponins, among others. The in-vitro antioxidant analysis of the extract showed a strong free radical scavenging activity against DPPH (1, 1- diphenyl-2- picryl hydrazyl) radicals using Ascorbic acid as reference standard. At 100 µg/ml concentration, the extract exhibited 47.58% DPPH radical scavenging activity in comparison to the 55.14% DPPH radical scavenging activity of the standard reference Ascorbic acid. The in-vivo studies showed that a dose of 500 mg/Kg Body weight/day of the extract in CCl₄-induced hepatotoxic rats resulted into significant (p≤0.05) improvement in the blood levels of liver function parameters, such as bilirubin, serum albumin, total protein, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). The marked hepatoprotective efficacy of the present mushroom may be attributed to its rich content of bioactive and potent biochemical constituent compounds having marke antioxidant potentialities.