BackgroundKhaya grandifoliola (Meliaceae) and Entada africana (Fabaceae) are traditionally used in Bamun (a western tribe of Cameroon) traditional medicine for the treatment of liver related diseases. In this study, the synergistic hepatoprotective effect of respective active fractions of the plants were investigated against paracetamol-induced toxicity in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes.MethodsParacetamol conferred hepatocyte toxicity, as determined by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium (MTT) assay, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) activities, malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) content assays. The crude extracts were fractionated by flash chromatography and fractions were tested for hepato-(protective and curative) activities. The most active fractions of both plants were tested individually, and in combination based on their respective half effective concentration (EC50).ResultsThe methylene chloride/methanol fractions of K. grandifoliola (75:25 v/v) (KgF25) and E. africana (90:10 v/v) (EaF10) were found to be the most hepato-protective with EC50 values of 10.30 ± 1.66 μg/ml and 13.47 ± 2.06 μg/ml respectively, comparable with that of silymarin (13.71 ± 3.87 μg/ml). These fractions and their combination significantly (P <0.05) improved cell viability, inhibited ALT leakage and MDA formation, and restored cellular CAT, SOD activities and GSH content. The combination was more effective in restoring biochemical parameters with coefficients of drugs interaction (CDI) less than 1.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate that the active fractions have synergistic action in the protection of rat hepatocytes against paracetamol-induced damage and suggest that their hepatoprotective properties may be maximized by using them in combination.

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The present work was to study the effects of Desmoduin adscendens, Khaya grandifoliola, Xylopia phloiodora extracts on growth parameters and selected blood parameters of broilers chickens. A total of 252 broiler chicks were randomly distributed into 4 groups. Chickens of control batch received commercial hepatoprotective (Hepaturyl 1 g/l) and the experimental groups received a formulation based on 3 extracts hepatoprotective plants at a concentration of 200, 100 and 50 mg/kg body weight. The mortality rate of control and experimental groups was 6.3% and 4.7% respectively. Average weight of batches at day 48 was, 2.6 for the control, 2.7 for the batch 2, 2.6 batch 3 and 2.5 kg batch 4 with an average consumption index ranging from 1.6 for the control and 1.7 for the experimental groups. Liver function in broilers was not altered (The values of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase were 5-25 IU/l and 50-350 IU/l respectively). Cholesterolemia, proteinemia and the triglyceridemia increased with the age of the animals (0.6- 4.1 mmol / l; 21-83 g / l; 0.3- 3.8 g / l respectively). The kinetics of the humoral immune response against infectious bursal disease was not influenced. This work has shown that the use of the formulation as hepatoprotective in chick drinking water shows results similar to those of commercial hepatoprotectors.Keywords: Broilers, hepatoprotective plants, hepatic functioning, growth performances, immune response