Paracetamol is the commonest over the counter drug for the treatment of body pains. However, an overdose of this drug has detrimental effects on the liver and other internal organs such as the kidneys. This experiment was conducted to investigate the hepatoprotective and regenerative effects of aqueous and methanolic extracts of watermelon seeds on the liver of rats given overdose of common salt and paracetamol. Thirty five (35) female albino rats were used for this experiment and the rats were randomly distributed into seven groups with each group containing five (5) rats. The rats in group A were given only vital feed (40% of the body weights of the rats) without any extract. This was the normal group. The rats in groups B, D and E were given physiological saline at the dosage of 10g/kg body weight once orally. In addition, 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg (body weight) of aqueous extract of watermelon seed were given to rats in groups D and E orally twice daily respectively. The rats in groups C, F and G were given paracetamol at dosage of 3g/kg body weight once orally at the beginning of the experiment. In addition, 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg (body weight) of methanolic extracts of watermelon were given to rats in groups F and G orally twice daily respectively. These experiments were monitored for 28 days. The results of the histopathological analyses showed that overdose of salt and paracetamol damaged the liver cells of the rats. However, treatments of the rats with aqueous and methanolic extracts of the seeds of watermelon have hepatoprotective and regenerative properties.
Keywords: Cirrhosis, Citrullus Lanatus, Extracts, Hepatoprotective, Hepatotoxicity, Liver, Necrosis, Paracetamol, histopathology
