Hepatoprotective effect of Quail egg against carbon tetra chloride (CCl4) induced hepatic damage in albino rats

Introduction: Quail egg has been used traditionally in the treatment of many ailments. Despite the wide speculations of its involvement in the treatment of liver diseases, very little scientific evidence exist to support this claim. This work investigated the hepatoprotective effect of quail egg against carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced liver damage in albino rats. Materials and Methods: The rats were divided into five groups of five rats per group. Animals of group A (positive control) were fed with vehicle (distilled water) on the first four days and with vehicle and CCl4 on the fifth, sixth and seventh day. Animals of group B (negative control) were given only vehicle for seven days. Animals of groups C, D and E were respectively administered with 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight of quail egg for the first four days and with vehicle, quail egg and CCl4 for the fifth, sixth and seventh day. Animals were subsequently anaesthetized, and blood samples were taken for the estimation of albumin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total protein (TP) and bilirubin. The liver was isolated for histopathological studies. Results: The levels of ALT, ALP and TP were significantly affected (p < 0.05) in CCl4 fed groups, indicating liver injury. The effects were reduced significantly (p < 0.05) after treatment of rats with quail egg. Furthermore, histopathological studies of the liver tissues also supported the hepatoprotective activity of quail egg- photomicrographs of treated groups showed mild reduction in vacuolarisation/ballooning degeneration of the hepatocytes. Conclusion: Quail egg showed some potentials of protecting the liver from damage by stabilising the levels of ALP, ALT and TP and reducing the degeneration of the hepatocytes. Thus, this finding has provided information that suggests utilising quail egg for treatment of liver dysfunction.