Anacardium occidentale (cashew) stem bark is used in traditional medicine to treat various kinds of diseases such as diabetes, fever, liver disorder and bronchitis in different parts of the world, including Nigeria. This study was aimed at phytochemical profiling of methanol extract of Anarcardium occidentale (cashew) stem bark (MEAOSB) and evaluation of its effect on antioxidant and liver function markers. In the experimental design of this study, a total of 25 Wistar albino rats divided into five groups, of five rats each, were used. Hepatotoxicity was induced with 2 ml/kg of carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) in all the groups except group one (1) which served as normal control. Group 2 was induced but not treated and served as the positive control while group 3-5 were induced and treated with standard (silymarin), 200 and 400 mg/kg of the extract respectively. Treatment lasted a week. Phytochemical profiling was done with GCMS while biochemical analyses of the parameters were determined by standard protocol. As observed from the results, induction with CCl4 significantly decreased the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glutathione transferase and concentrations of glutathione and malondialdehyde. In contrast, induction resulted in an increase in liver markers such as alkaline phosphatase, aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase and total bilirubin. However treatment with MEAOSB significantly (P < 0.05) elicited antioxidant and hepatoprotective effect by increasing the levels of antioxidant markers and lowering the levels serum liver markers which were in turn comparable with that of the reference drug silymarin. Findings from this research indicate that high doses of CCl4-induction could result in Oxidative and hepatic damage and MEAOSB has the potential of scavenging radicals and protecting the liver against CCl4-induced oxidation and hepatotoxicity. The observed effect of MEAOSB could be due to the presence of Aspidospermidin-17-ol, hexadecanoic acid,methyl ester and Aziridinone in the extract shown by the GCMS analysis.
