17 Male Wistar rats weighing between 150 and 200 g were used for this study. The animals

selleckchem were placed at random and allocated to treatment groups in polypropylene cages with paddy husk as bedding. Animals were housed at a temperature of 24 ± 26 °C and relative humidity of 30–70%. A 12:12 light:day cycle was followed. All animals were allowed to free access to water and fed with standard commercial pelleted rat chaw (M/s. Hindustan Lever Ltd, Mumbai). The Institutional Animal Ethics Committee approved (Project No. 864) the animal experiments and the guidelines for animal care were followed, as recommended by the Indian National Science Academy. Test materials were administered as mg/kg body weight Autophagy activity of animals. Rats were divided into 5 groups (G-I to G-V) of six each. G-I served as normal control and received 0.5% (CMC) carboxy methyl cellulose suspension (1 ml/kg) once daily for 7 days. G-II served as PCM control, received paracetamol (2 g/kg) for seven days. G-III served as reference control, received silymarin (200 mg/kg) once daily for 7 days along with PCM (2 g/kg). G-IV and G-V were treated with MEMV (100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg respectively) once daily for 7 days along with PCM (2 g/kg). All the test drugs and PCM were administered

orally by suspending in 0.5% CMC solution. After 24 h of last dose of PCM, the blood was collected from retro plexus, after blood collection, the animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and the liver was dissected out and used for biochemical studies and histological examination. The blood Farnesyltransferase collected from the rats was used for biochemical analysis. The blood was allowed to clot and centrifuged

(Remi, Mumbai) for separation of serum. The serum was separated and used for assay of Alanine amino transferase (ALT), Aspartate amino transferase (AST), Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) by standard methods using enzyme assay kits. Albumin, triglycerides and serum bilirubin were also measured by kits method according to the instructions provided by the company (E–Merck, Germany). The catalase activity was measured according to method of Sinha et al.18 The level of lipid peroxidation in liver homogenate was determined by the method of Buege and Aust.19 Hepatic reduced glutathione (GSH) level was determined by the method of Ellman modified by Jollow et al.20 Liver pieces preserved in 10% formaldehyde solution were used for histopathological study. The liver tissues were placed in plastic cassettes and immersed in neutral buffered formalin for 24 h. The fixed tissues were processed routinely, embedded in paraffin, cut into 4 μm-thick sections and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E). The extent of paracetamol-induced hepatic damage was evaluated by assessing the morphological changes in the liver sections.