The effects of some Iranian herbal medicines on liver function in rat

As a result of the public view on the advantage of herbal medicines, there has been an increasing demand for these products. Since they are wildly available and are used as self-remedies and also due to the reports regarding their toxic effects, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of some Iranian herbaceous products such as prostatan, sankol, shirafza, and hypiran drops on liver function in rats. Three doses of each drug (highest beeng 2.5 times the maximum recommended dose) were administrated orally to the animals for seven weeks. The rats were then sacrificed, the blood sample was collected and the serum was separated at the end of treatment’s period. The parameters related to liver function were determined using spectrophotometric methods. The liver itself was also examined for pathological damage. The obtained results showed that prostatan did not alter the measured parameters significantly while shirafza resulted in a 34% increase in LDH levels when highest dose was used. Sankol and hypiean also increased serum ALT, AST and LDH in high doses when compared to the control group. Histopathological studies demonstrated a possible effect of sankol and hypyiran on rat liver tissue.