ABSTRACT:
Medicinal practioners have prescribed Ayurveda and drug from herbal origin as a system of medicine in India over centuries. Many of the modern drug mainly based on synthetic chemical compounds, however have been found to have harmful side effects on the human system. This has triggered off extensive research and development in the field of herbal medicine. In fact, there is a growing demand for herbal medicines in most of the developed and developing countries of the world today. Liver is a vital organ that plays a major role in the metabolism and excretion of xenobiotics from the body. Liver disease is the major challenge faced by the world and is the leading cause of death in western countries. Exposure too many chemicals such as carbon tetrachloride, thioacetamide, alcohols and drugs can result in injury to liver, therby impairing its normal function and resulting in biochemical abnormalities. Herbal drugs are the potential source of therapeutic aid for treating liver disease and a number of scientific investigations revealed the importances and contributions of these natural products. Numerous medicinal plants and their formulations are used for liver disorders in ethnomedical practice as well as traditional system of medicine in India. More over them are economical with fewer side effects and can be used independent of any age groups. They are rich in chemical compounds like flavanoids that impart antioxidant property and in turn possess hepatoprotective activity. Though a wide variety of herbal drugs with hepatoprotective activity is known, many of them are not proven clinically.The hepatoprotective activity of some herbal drugs clinically proven using hepatotoxicity models are explained in this review. This review is aimed at enumerating some of the natural products that possess hepatoprotective activity