Hepatoprotective potential of the methanolic extract of Colocasia esculenta on iron overload induced mice

Over deposition of iron in the body lead to oxidative damage in cells and organs of the body which is characterized as iron overload disease. Present study was aimed to measure the remedial effect and Colocasia esculenta under iron overload diseased conditions. C. esculenta is a tropical plant belonging to Araceae family highly rich in alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, and tannins. In vitro assays, C. esculenta methanolic extract (CEME) proved iron chelation and reducing power in dose dependent manner. Thirty-six mice were divided into six groups out of that one was normal group which received water and remaining five represented iron overloaded conditions induced by iron sucrose injection. The diseased groups received oral doses of CEME (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg b.w.), desirox group that received doses of synthetic chelator desirox (20 mg/kg b.w.) and the negative control group that were provided with normal saline water ad libitum. Several biochemical markers of hepatic damage characterized in liver and serum were studied. Tissue histopathological study was done to understand the morphological changes. The reducing power and iron chelation capacity of CEME was studied and found that CEME (200 mg/kg b.w.) significantly normalized the levels of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase by 63.88% and 22.46%, respectively. CEME (200 mg/kg b.w.) was shown to alleviate the reduced levels of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione-S-transferase, and nonenzymatic-reduced glutathione by 15.59%, 28.78%, 37.56%, and 35.56%, respectively. These findings suggest that, the protective effect of CEME against iron-overloaded-induced liver toxicity as evidenced by biochemical and histopathological studies.