Thesis (M.Sc.)--Chulalongkorn University, 2003

To investigate the hepatoprotective effects of ethanol (EtOH) extract from Jiaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum (GP)) in EtOH induced hepatotoxic rats. In acute experiment, single dose of EtOH 5 g/kg was administered orally to rats, resulted in the significantly elevated levels of serum triglyceride (STG), hepatic triglyceride (HTG), aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) as compared with control rats receiving 5% corn flour at 5 ml/kg. Hepatic glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were unchanged. Treatment with 95% ethanol extract of Jiaogulan at oral dose of 300, 400 and 500 mg/kg 4 hours before EtOH, lowered the levels of AST, ALT and HTG (only at 300 mg/kg dose), whereas STG, GSH and MDA were unchanged. In sub-acute experiment, EtOH at 4 g/kg/day was administered orally to rats for 28 consecutive days, resulted in the significantly elevated levels of STG, HTG and ALT. Treated rats with Jiaogulan extract at the dose of 300mg/kg/day in EtOH induced sub-acute hepatotoxic rats for 7, 14 and 21 days, lowered the levels of HTG, AST and ALT compared to control rats receiving dialy with 5% corn flour after oral feeding with EtOH for 28 days. Our data indicated that supplementation with Jiaogulan extract can offer protection against EtOH induced hepatotoxicity in rats. In addition, histopathological studies of rat liver in both acute and sub-acute hepatotoxicity studies confirmed the beneficial role of Jiaogulan extract against EtOH