CHARACTERIZATION, IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT AND HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF FUNGAL ENDOPHYTIC EXTRACTS OF ANDROGRAPHIS PANICULATA LEAVES IN CCL4 INDUCED HEPATOTOXICITY

Objective: To isolate and characterize the endophytic fungi from the leaves of Andrographis paniculata for free radical scavenging antioxidant and hepatoprotective activity against CCl4 induced hepatotoxicityMethods: Two fungal endophytes, APLF-3 (Andrographis paniculata leaf fungi-3) and APLF-4 (Andrographis paniculata leaf fungi-4) were isolated from leaves of Andrographis paniculata to get chloroform (A3C, A4C), ethyl acetate (A3EA, A4EA) and n butanol (A3nB, A4nB) extracts. rDNA sequencing by PCR technique was carried out for identification of APLF-3 and APLF-4. All the APLF-3 and APLF-4 extracts were assayed for in vitro free radical scavenging activity against 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl radical and reducing power. Then, A4EA and A4nB were screened for hepatoprotective activity against CCl4 induced hepatotoxicity at 50 mg/kg and100 mg/kg doses.Results: The endophytic fungi, APLF-3 and APLF-4, were identified as Phyllosticta sp. ZLY-2010 isolate M13 and Aspergillus tubingensis strain Cs/7/2 respectively based on their morphological and molecular characterization. A4EA and A4nB showed significant in vitro free radical scavenging activity as compared to other extracts. A4EA and A4nB (50 mg/kg and100 mg/kg) reversed the increased serum biochemical parameters as compared to CCl4 treated group (p