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Halenia elliptica, a medicinal herb of Tibetan origin, was commonly used in folk medicine to treat hepatitis. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the hepatoprotective and antioxidant activity of Halenia elliptica against experimentally induced liver injury. Materials and methods: The antioxidant property of methanolic extract (ME) of Halenia elliptica was investigated by employing various established in vitro systems. The ME of Halenia elliptica was studied here for its hepatoprotective effects against CCl4-induced liver toxicity in rats. Activity was measured by monitoring the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and total bilirubin. Results: The ME possessed strong antioxidant activity in vitro. The results of CCl4-induced liver toxicity experiment showed that rats treated with the ME of Halenia elliptica (100mg/kg and 200mg/kg), and also the standard treatment, silymarin (50mg/kg), showed a significant decrease in ALT, AST, ALP, and total bilirubin levels, which were all elevated in the CCl4 group (p <0.01). The results observed after administration of 100mg/kg ME were comparable to those of silymarin at 50mg/kg (p >0.05). The ME did not show any mortality at doses up to 2000g/kg body weight. Conclusion: These results seem to support the traditional use of Halenia elliptica in pathologies involving hepatotoxicity, and the possible mechanism of this activity may be due to strong free radical-scavenging and antioxidant activities of ME. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]