Protective activity of andrographolide and arabinogalactan proteins from Andrographis paniculata Nees. against ethanol-induced toxicity in mice

To find out the active principles against ethanol-induced toxicity in mice, Andrographis paniculata Nees. (Ap) was chosen and isolated andrographolide (ANDRO) and arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs). ANDRO was detected by HPTLC, FTIR and quantified by HPLC (10 mg/g of Ap powder). AGPs was detected by P-glucosyl Yariv staining of SDS-PAGE gel, FTIR and quantified by single radial gel diffusion assay with beta-glucosyl Yariv reagent (0.5 mg/g Ap powder). The mice are pretreated intra-peritoneally (i.p.) with different doses (62.5, 125, 250, and 500 mg/kg) of body weight of mice] of ANDRO and AGPs for 7 days and then ethanol (7.5 g/kg of body weight) was injected, i.p. Besides, silymarin was used as standard hepatoprotective agent for comparative study with ANDRO and AGPs. The ameliorative activity of ANDRO and AGP against hepatic renal alcohol toxicity was measured by assessing GOT, GPT, ACP, ALP and LP levels in liver and kidney. It has been observed that pretreatment of mice with ANDRO and AGPs at 500 mg/kg of body weight and 125 mg/kg of body weight respectively could able to minimize the toxicity in compare to ethanol treated group as revealed by the different enzymatic assay in liver and kidney tissues and the results were comparable with silymarin. Hence, out of several ill-defined compounds present in Ap, ANDRO and AGPs are the potential bioactive compounds responsible for protection against ethanol-induced toxicity. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.