A Comprehensive Review on Hepatoprotective Herbal Agents

Herbal drugs are conventionally used in various parts of the world to alleviate different diseases. Many herbs have been proven to be efficient as hepatoprotective agents while many more are claimed to be hepatoprotective but be deficient in any such scientific substantiation to support such claims. The therapeutic values were tested against a few chemicals-induced subclinical levels of liver damages in rodents. Liver diseases are a major worldwide health problem, with high endemicity in developing countries. They are mainly caused by chemicals and some drugs when taken in very high doses. Liver is a vital organ play a major role in metabolism and excretion from the body. Natural remedies from medicinal plants are considered to be effective and safe alternative treatment for liver toxicity. There are several chemicals have been known to induce hepatotoxicity by producing reactive species which cause exhaustion in tissue thiol, lipid peroxidation, plasma membrane damage like carbontetrachloride, paracetomol, thioacetamide, antituberculer drugs, D-galactosamine, liposachharide and arsenic etc. The present review is designed to summarized the medicinal plants that have been tested in hepatotoxicity models using recent scientific system for protective effect in liver diseases.