Hepatoprotective potential of selected medicinally important herbs: evidence from ethnomedicinal, toxicological and pharmacological evaluations

Abstract Medicinal herbs are nature’s gift to humanity, contributing crucially to the preservation, maintenance and improvement of our health. In order to explore the hepatoprotective potential of prevalent medicinal plants, nine species were selected from different genera based on their ethnomedicinal records in treating different liver-related pathological conditions in South Asia. Besides, the available information was critically analyzed to gain new insights and directions for future investigations towards establishing such natural products as potent hepatoprotective agents or dietary supplements. The hepatoprotective activities of the species have been investigated in a wide variety of in vivo experimental models including carbon tetrachloride-, paracetamol-, iron-, mercuric chloride-, thioacetamide-, cyclophosphamide-, β- d -galactosamine-, cumene hydroperoxide-, α-naphthyl-isothiocyanate-, physical stress- and alcohol-induced hepatotoxicity in rats and…