Hepatoprotective Potentials of Ethanolic Extract of Solanum melongena Linn Fruit on Monosodium Glutamate- Intoxicated Rats' and Liver Section Histology

This study evaluated the hepatoprotective potentials of ethanolic extract of Solanum melongena Linn fruit on monosodium glutamate-intoxicated rats and liver section histology using standard protocols. Twenty four Wistar rats that weighed 105.00 ± 7.00 g were divided into 6 groups of 4 each. The six groups were thus fed: Group 1 (control, feed and distilled water only), Group 2 (8000 mg/kg body weight MSG), Group 3 (300 mg/kg body weight the sample extract), Group 4 (8000 mg/kg body weight MSG+ 100 mg/kg body weight the sample extract), Group 5 (8000 mg/kg body weight MSG+ 300 mg/kg body weight the sample extract) and Group 6 (8000 mg/kg body weight MSG+ 500 mg/kg body weight the sample extract) daily for 14 days. The MSG only fed group showed a significant (P=0.05) increase in the activities of serum alanine aminotransferases (ALT), aspartate aminotransferases (AST), alkaline phosphatases (ALP) and total bilirubin compared to the control group. MSG and ethanolic extract of Solanum melongena Linn fruit co-treated groups at different concentration were significantly (P=.05) reduced to become comparable to the control group. The concentration of serum albumin and total protein were significantly (P=.05) reduced for group 2 compared to group 1. The co-administration of MSG and ethanolic extract of Solanum melongena Linn fruit resulted to a significant (P =0.05) increase notably at 500 mg/kg body weight sample extract and the same was observed for the histology. This suggests the improved synthetic function of the liver. MSG at a high concentration (8000 mg/kg body weight) adversely affected the rats liver biofunction and the hepatoprotective potentials of ethanol extract of Solanum melongena Linn fruit was notably at 500 mg/kg of body weight in rats. However, further studies in this direction are warranted.