Hepatoprotective Effect of Honey and Green Tea on Atrazine Induced Hepatotoxicity in Albino Wistar Rats

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the hepatoprotective effect of green tea and honey on atrazine induced hepatotoxicity in albino Wistar rats. Study Design: Experimental study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Clinical Chemistry and Department of Anatomy, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, between August 2024 and December 2024. Methodology: Please Thirty (30) albino Wistar rats weighing between 150-250g were randomly divided into six (6) groups of five rats each. Group I rats served as the negative control, group II rats served as the positive control as they were given oral administration of Atrazine (100mg/kg), Group III rats were given oral administration of atrazine (100mg/kg), and low dose green tea (50mg/kg), group IV received oral administration of atrazine (100mg/kg), and high dose green tea (200mg/kg), group V received oral administration of atrazine (100mg/kg) and honey (1ml) once daily, and group VI received oral administration of atrazine after 15 days of oral administration of honey. After the end of the study the rats were allowed to fast for 8 hours before they were anaesthetized using chloroform and blood samples were collected via cardiac puncture for the analysis of aspartate transferase (AST), Alanine transferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), Albumin, Total protein and 5 Nucleotides (5'NT). GraphPad Prism version 10.0 was used to analyze the Mean, standard deviation, ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparison test, and p<0.05 was regarded to be statistically significant. Results: The results showed a significant increase in AST (p<0.0001), ALT (p<0.0001), GGT(p<0.0001), Albumin (p<0.0001), total protein (p<0.05) and 5'NT (p<0.0001) in group I I (positive control) compared to group I (negative control) and a significant decrease (p<0.0001) in the AST, ALT, GGT, 5'NT, total protein and Albumin Levels in group III, IV and V after green tea and honey administration. Grean tea exact a dose dependent decrease on the level of AST, ALT And GGT with group IV having a more pronounced reduction than group III. Group VI showed a significantly lower (p<0.0001) level of AST, ALT, GGT, albumin and total protein. Conclusion: The findings of this study may suggest that honey and green tea possess the potential of ameliorating hepatotoxicity caused by Atrazine. Further related studies are however, recommended.