Objective: The leaves of Caesalpinia bonduc (CB) have been used against various disorders in folk medicine including the liver disorders. Earlier, we have shown the hepatoprotective effect of CB in acute hepatotoxicity model. The present study was designed to evaluate the anti-hepatotoxic and anti-fibrotic effect of the aqueous leaf extract of CB on CCl4 (carbon tetrachloride) induced chronic hepatotoxicity/fibrosis in Wistar rats.Methods: Animals were divided into three groups namely; preventive, curative and prophylactic, which was further subdivided into four groups each: Group I–untreated control, group II-CCl4 control, group III-CB+CCl4 and group IV–silymarin+CCl4. The aqueous extract of CB/silymarin was administered orally once, daily for eight weeks in the curative group and for four weeks in preventive and prophylactic groups respectively. The chronic liver damage/fibrosis was induced by intraperitoneal injection of CCl4 twice a week, for four weeks in preventive and prophylactic groups and for eight weeks in the curative group. Blood samples were collected for assaying serum biochemical parameters, and the livers were excised and processed for histology.Results: The data showed that supplementation of aqueous leaf extract of CB along with CCl4 significantly reduced the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase(ALP), total bilirubin(TB) and prothrombin time(PT) thus further restoring the total protein(TP) and albumin(ALB) in preventive, curative and prophylactic groups when compared to CCl4 control. Significant improvement in the microscopic structure of the liver further confirmed the hepatoprotective effect of aqueous extract of CB over the liver injury and fibrosis induced by CCl4 in rats.Conclusion: The study, therefore, suggests that aqueous extract of CB might provide a novel and alternative approach for treating the chronic hepatotoxicity/liver fibrosis.Keywords: Caesalpenia bonduc, Liver, Chronic, CCl4, Fibrosis, Silymarin, Hepato-protectio
