A Review of Plants with Remarkable Hepatoprotective Activity

Liver being vulnerable to exogenous substances makes disease associated with it a matter of worldwide concern. Several research thus focus on hepatoprotection .Preventive and therapeutic activity of plants as a hepatoprotective agent is a topic of interest for researchers. Hepatotoxic agents like carbon tetrachloride, paracetamol, isoniazide etc. increase the serum biomarkers of liver where ALT is more specific than AST in detecting liver injury. Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) wherein more than 900 drugs have been implicated in causing liver injury. Plant phenolics include simple phenols, phenolic acids, coumarins, lignans, flavonoids, diaryl-alkanoids, stilbenoids, proanthocyanins, tannins, and anthocyanins some alkaloids. The greater the content of alkaloids, flavonoids, and saponins in an extract, the higher the hepatoprotective activity possessed by the extract. This paper reviews some plants documented between the periods of 2011-2021 with remarkable heptoprotective activity and discusses the various hepatotoxic agents used, its mechanism and hepatoprotective agents present in the specific plant. Keywords: Hepatoprotective plants, flavonoids, saponin, alkaloids,hepatotoxicity, drug induced liver injury, hepatotoxic agents