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Ethnopharmacological relevance Currently, human liver is susceptible to injury caused by alcohol and virus infiltration, resulting in hepatitis, cirrhosis, and even hepatocellular carcinoma. Paederia scandens (Lour.) Merr. var. tomentosa (Rubiaceae) has been used as traditional medicine in Asian countries to treat jaundice, dysentery, and abdominal mass. Furthermore, the abundance of iridoid glycosides in Paederia species indicates their notable hepatoprotective potential. Materials and methods Total iridoid glycosides (TG) was prepared, and constituents of TG were analyzed by HPLC. TG and silymarin (positive) were orally administered for 15 days. Then, acute liver injury rats was induced by intraperitoneally injection (i.p.) of 10% CCl 4 (0.12%, v/v, dissolved in olive oil, 10 mL/kg, body weight). Rats were sacrificed at 16 h after CCl 4 injection. Liver tissues and blood were collected. Serum samples were prepared to determine the activities of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST), whereas liver tissue sections were prepared for the purpose of examining possible liver histopathological changes. In addition, antioxidant enzyme activities in liver tissues were also evaluated. Results Our results demonstrated that TG significantly decreased the levels of AST and ALT, compared with those in control rats. In addition, pre-treatment of the rats with TG clearly alleviated their liver tissue injuries. What’s more, the activities of GSH, GAT and SOD in the groups of TG-treated rats were significantly increased compared with those of rats in the control group, whereas the levels of MDA were decreased. Conclusions Our present research indicated that TG possessed notable hepatoprotective activity via decreasing oxidative stress level in liver tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]