Protective effect of plants and their compounds on liver injury
have been credited to their antioxidant potential [10,53,54].
Decline in free radical scavenging by antioxidant system results in
oxidative stress, resulting in injuries caused to liver [10]. Strengthening
the antioxidant defense system and thereby the free radical
scavenging activity can result in positive curative effects on liver
injuries caused by CCl4.
AgNPs have been proven to possess antioxidant activity [55].
Supporting this, our study determined the in vitro antioxidant
activity in which the AgNPs possessed increased activity compared
to the 5% aqueous plant extract. The AgNPs alone or along
with the encapsulated phytochemicals had decreased lipid peroxidation
by creating an increase in antioxidant system. This
increase could have therefore prevented oxidative stress by scavenging
the free radicals. Thus, the antioxidant activity of AgNPs
could have played a crucial role in the observed curative effect
on the hepatic injury caused by CCl4. Since this is a preliminary
report, the prominent mechanism has to be ascertained by further
studies.
To conclude, AgNPs were fabricated adapting a rapid, cost effective
method exploiting the aqueous leaf extract of A. paniculata as
a nanofactory. Based on our findings, we suggest that nanorange
particles of silver can be used to treat liver injuries.