Studies on hepatoprotective activity of ayurvedic formulation livoral by in silico in vitro and in vivo methods

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a chronic, lethal liver disease primarily caused by alcohol consumption. Conventional therapies and drug treatment eventually fail due to cell toxicity, cell damage and drug resistance by HCC cells. Recent studies showed that several ayurvedic medicines have been widely used for the treatment of HCC with improvement in biochemistry and histology results. We hypothesized that the ayurvedic polyherbal formulation, Livoral, can have a potential effect on HCC cells than the available standard herbal drugs, such as Silymarin and Liv52. Although Livoral is believed to have a protective role against liver cancer and cirrhosis, there is insufficient experimental evidence to support the bioactivity and efficacy on the same. In this thesis work, we designed experiments to examine and evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of Livoral on HCC cells via physicochemical, in vitro and in vivo approaches. Notably, this is the first report on the hepatoprotective effect of Livoral against HCC and cirrhosis. As part of the first objective, physicochemical analysis of Livoral was carried out to determine the various phytochemical constituents, metals, and extractive components. The physicochemical standardization of any herbal formulation is very essential to assess the quality of the drug. Our experimental study revealed that it contained total ash, acid-insoluble, alcohol, and water-soluble as 14%, 0.66%, 4%, and 9.8% w/w respectively which are within the recommended range as per Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, Part-II, Appendix 2.2.3. newline